The Case: Young adults risk being shut out of the labour market before their careers have even taken off. The Commentary: Generation Z, already expected to shoulder the financial burden of increasingly strained pension and social security systems, now faces another challenge: An unprecedented number of young people risk being…

The Case: The NZZ article People Are Clinging to Their Jobs (27 June 2026) highlights a noticeable shift in the Swiss labour market. The Commentary: After several years of strong job mobility, employees are becoming increasingly reluctant to change their jobs, a trend largely driven by slower economic growth, geopolitical…

The Case: The apprenticeship market remains strong, with more than 54,500 apprenticeship contracts already signed and around 14,000 apprenticeship positions still available for 2026. The Commentary: There is still time to find the right apprenticeship. Vocational education offers a practical path into the world of work and opens the door…

The Case: Switzerland continues to perform strongly in the latest QS World University Rankings, with ETH Zurich, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and the University of Zurich all ranked among the world’s top 100 universities. The Commentary: ETH Zurich is ranked 8th globally, down one place from last year.…

The Case: “By working longer hours, we could reduce immigration,” claimed Monika Rühl, director of economiesuisse, after the voters rejected the initiative “10 million Switzerland” last Sunday. The Commentary: Monika Rühl’s claim is only partially plausible, but is too simplistic to stand up as a direct causal argument. In Switzerland,…

The Case: Around four in ten children in the eastern part of Switzerland require additional support in learning German. The Commentary: In order to address this challenge, the canton of Aargau is going to introduce mandatory language assessments for all children approximately 18 months before they enter nursery school. While…

The Case: Christoph Mäder (president of economiesuisse) addresses the emerging “junior gap” caused by AI-driven change in the labour market. The Commentary: While technological progress has always replaced certain jobs, it has also always created new prosperity and employment. What is new is that AI increasingly affects traditional entry-level roles.…

The Case: Standard Chartered plans to eliminate thousands of back-office roles over the course of the next four years, joining a discernible trend among global financial institutions, including HSBC Holdings and several Wall Street banks, that have increasingly been turning to artificial intelligence in order to streamline operations.

The Case: Between 2010 and 2024 the number of PhD students at Swiss higher education institutions increased by 29 %; a growth largely driven by an increase in the number of students studying medicine, technical sciences or exact and natural sciences. The Commentary: Swiss universities have successfully managed this expansion…