Swiss businesses plan employee pay raises in 2026

Swiss companies' expectations for salary growth are down by 0.3 percentage points compared to a year ago. These are the findings of the latest salary survey conducted by the Center for Economic Research (KOF) at the federal technology institute ETH Zurich. The survey was conducted with around 4,500 firms. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox Experts say that companies are expecting an average wage growth of 1.3% in 2026. After deducting the 0.5% rise in inflation expected by the KOF, employees would therefore benefit from a real salary increase of around 0.8%, the research centre told the Keystone-SDA news agency on Sunday, confirming an article in the NZZ am Sonntag. Compared to last year's salary survey, companies' expectations for salary growth are down by 0.3 percentage points. According to the KOF, this is due to a lower shortage of skilled labour and a sharp fall in inflation in recent months. Over the past three years, companies' forecasts for nominal ...