(14.05.2025) Overall, Swiss workers were better paid in 2024 than in 2023. The Swiss nominal wage index rose by 1.8% year-on-year. Real wages, adjusted for inflation, increased by 0.7%, according to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).
The increase in nominal wages was more pronounced in the tertiary sector (1.9%) than in the secondary sector (1.5%). However, differences across industries remain significant. In the secondary sector, branches such as the rubber, plastic, and non-metallic mineral product industries saw incomes jump by 4.9%. In contrast, the construction sector and metal product manufacturing recorded only a 0.8% increase.
In the tertiary sector, notable wage increases were seen in health care, residential care, and social work services (+3%), postal and courier services (+3%), insurance (+2.5%), and public administration (+2.5%). Conversely, pay stagnated in the "publishing, broadcasting, telecommunications and IT" sector (+0.4%) and even declined by 0.4% in administrative and support services. Another notable development in 2024: women's wages rose more (+2.6% nominally) than men's (+1.2%).
Compared with 2023 (2.1%) and 2022 (2.8%), inflation slowed significantly in 2024 (1.1%). As a result, the gap between nominal and real wages narrowed. However, the rise in real wages – the first since 2020 – is not enough to offset the income losses of previous years (-0.4% in 2023, -1.9% in 2022, and -0.8% in 2021). Between 2020 and 2024, wage purchasing power declined by an average of 2.4%.
Last modification 14.05.2025
