The services sector, leading the way in job creation
(06.04.2022) Business start-ups hit an all-time high. According to the Statistics on Business Demography (UDEMO) of the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), 42,606 companies were created "ex nihilo" in 2019, an annual increase of 8.1%.
Of the 567,254 companies in the secondary and tertiary sectors operating in Switzerland in 2019, 7.5% had been founded in the same year. In total, these new entities generated 57,067 jobs or 1.3% of total employment. This is an increase of 6.3% from 2018.
The "other service activities" branch accounted for the most job creation (4.1% of the total). The largest number of startups relative to the number of companies operating in the sector were in education, with one in ten companies created in 2019.
Of all companies active in Switzerland, "industry and energy" accounted for the majority of jobs (19.6% of the total), and "specialized and scientific activities" for the largest number of units (18.2% of the total).
In 2019, Switzerland had 4,803 high-growth companies, 8.1% more than in 2018. One in twenty of these companies were "gazelles" (i.e., less than five years old).
In terms of company size, the vast majority of those operating in Switzerland are very small. In 2019, more than half (54.3%) had only one employee. Those with five or more jobs accounted for 21.7% of the total. At the time of their creation, 83% of new companies had only one employee.