Swiss attracted to English-speaking countries

For many, the bright lights of New York beckon Keystone

Although Switzerland is one of the world’s most popular job markets, many Swiss choose work abroad – especially in English-speaking countries.

Boston Consulting Group and The Network – a group of 50 job search portals in 130 countries –surveyed 200,000 people. They found that among Swiss respondents, 50% would like to work in the United States, followed by Canada and Britain (44% each), and Germany and Australia (39% each).

The Swiss seem especially keen to work abroad: 60% of Swiss men and 51% of Swiss women said they were interested in doing so, compared to 44% of their international peers. One in five of all people surveyed already had experience working in another country.

The main motivation for working abroad was “broadening horizons”, with 67% of Swiss women and 64% of Swiss men citing that reason, followed by “wanting to experience another culture” and “gaining work experience”.

Yet many Swiss – 29% of women and 19% of men surveyed – said that they had no desire to leave the country for a job.

Indeed, Switzerland is an attractive job market, with 29% of survey respondents saying they would be interested in working there. The United States took first place (42%), followed by Britain and Canada (36% each), Germany (33%) and France (29%).

Switzerland is especially popular in the eyes of workers from Bosnia and Herzegovina, where 60% of those polled said they’d like to emigrate to Switzerland. In France that figure was 59%, followed by Serbia (57%), Portugal (51%) and Italy (46%).