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Cross-border worker numbers swell in Switzerland

Cars queue at French-Swiss border
Cars queue up at the border between Switzerland and France. © Keystone / Christian Beutler

The number of people crossing the border to work in Switzerland from neighbouring countries rose by 18.6% between 2017 and the end of last year.

This trend was reinforced in the last three months of 2022, a period that saw cross-border worker numbers swell to 380,000 – a 6% increase compared with the same period in 2021.

+ Read how foreign workers are boosting the Swiss workforce

The increase was driven primarily by French workers, followed by Italian, German and Austrian residents, the Federal Statistical Office reported on Tuesday.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, 56.3% of all foreign cross-border commuters were resident in France, 23.5% in Italy, 17.1% in Germany, 2.3% in Austria and 0.2% in Liechtenstein.

Most cross-border workers have jobs in the cantons of Geneva, Vaud, Jura and Ticino.

The Covid-19 pandemic did little to dent the enthusiasm of cross-border workers coming to Switzerland. Numbers rose from 339,000 at the end of 2019 to 341,300 the following year, 359,000 in 2021 and 380,000 by the end of last year.

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