Low unemployment rates and the prospering economy have made Switzerland a highly attractive destination for a range of migrant groups. The diverse population and a high proportion of skilled labour migrants from Germany were two important reasons for analysing the integration of immigrants in the Swiss labour market in more detail.

The study conducted by ISS researcher Christian Ebner and his colleague Marc Helbling (University of Bamberg) is based on representative data from the Swiss Labour Force Survey (SLFS) for the years 2010 and 2011. The SLFS covers the permanently resident population of Switzerland and in addition to the basic sample, a large number of foreigners have been surveyed. The study population consists of adults aged between 25 and 64 who are working for pay.

The empirical findings indicate that earnings of immigrants vary to a great extent depending on their country of origin. German immigrants, net of education, even earned significantly higher salaries than Swiss-born individuals. Germans speak one of the Swiss national languages and the German education system is very similar to the Swiss education system. They perform specialist tasks and help ameliorate the skills shortage in Switzerland, which gives them more bargaining power in wage negotiations. For many other immigrant groups in Switzerland severe wage disadvantages can be detected. Ethnic disadvantage on the labour market increases as the social distance, which is determined by culture, language and the education system between the sending and receiving societies, grows. Particularly low wages were found for immigrants from the former Yugoslavia and Turkey. Policies should include targeted language training and education.