by CHRISTIAN RAAFLAUB
To coincide with Labour Day on Sunday, the Swiss unions have issued a report, based on official data, showing that wage inequality has grown in Switzerland.
Employers have relativised the findings, saying an influx of foreign firms has had an influence on the statistics.
Switzerland is growing richer from year to year. Yet many people seem to have less money in their pockets at the end of the month.
It was widely assumed that the salaries of the top income earners had increased disproportionately in comparison with others in the past ten to 15 years.
The Swiss Trade Union Federation salary distribution report, published this week with analysis of current data, appears to lend weight to this assumption. Most of the figures come from the Federal Statistics Office.
According to the study, the best paid ten per cent of the workforce saw their salaries increase 10.3 per cent, adjusted for inflation, between 1998 and 2008. In the case of the so-called super earners – the top half per cent – the increase was 28 per cent over the same period.
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