The analysis is an update of the eponymous SATW study from 2021 and confirms the negative trends:
A highly innovative industrial sector is desirable to ensure Switzerland remains a healthy business location because industry provides 16 percent of jobs in Switzerland, yet contributes 40 percent of GDP. Investing in the innovation-related activities of manufacturing industry serves to safeguard this impressive economic performance.
The chart shows the trend in full-time equivalents (FTEs) in manufacturing industry for large companies (orange, vertical axis on left) and SMEs (purple, vertical axis on right) between 2012 and 2020. Following an upwards trend between 2016 and 2019, FTEs at large companies decline during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Nevertheless, FTEs in large companies increased by 3,528 or one percent. The number of FTEs in SMEs has declined constantly however, with the trend accelerating in 2020. Since 2012, the number of FTEs at SMEs in the manufacturing industry has fallen by a total of 21,437. In other words, one job in twenty has disappeared. Across all size classes, the number of FTEs has decreased by 17,909, or three percent compared to 2012.
The chart shows the FTE trend in the tertiary sector for large companies (orange) and SMEs (purple) between 2012 and 2020. FTE figures for companies in both size classes stagnated during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic. This contrasts with the distinct growth in preceding years. A total of 297,813 FTEs were created in the period from 2012. 151,626 of these were at large companies (increase of eleven percent since 2012), while 146,187 were in SMEs (increase of nine percent since 2012). Unlike manufacturing industry, companies in both size classes experienced a significant increase in FTEs, which is why they have been combined in the table below. The huge increase in FTEs in the tertiary (+297,813 FTEs) and construction (+15,568 FTEs) sectors more than compensated for the loss of jobs in the primary sector (-8,295 FTEs) and manufacturing industry (-17,909 FTEs), resulting in the creation of 287,177 FTEs in the total Swiss labour market between 2012 and 2020.
The charts show the trend in the percentage of companies conducting R&D in Switzerland (left) and abroad (right) between 1997 and 2020 by industry category. They show the change in the average for 2016–2020 compared with the reference period from 1997 to 2004 as a percentage of the original value; figures for large chemical and pharmaceutical companies are unavailable on data protection grounds (*). The percentage of companies conducting R&D is declining perceptibly both in Switzerland and abroad. The observed decrease is affecting large companies and SMEs in all industry categories equally. It is particularly pronounced in Switzerland among companies of all sizes in the low-tech category and abroad among large companies in the high-tech category and SMEs in the low-tech category.
The portfolio breakdown depicts the trends for large companies (left) and SMEs (right) between 1997 and 2020 at industry category level. The horizontal axis shows expenditure expressed as R&D expenditure in relation to sales, the vertical axis shows income expressed as sales of new products per employee. The charts show the changes for the periods 2010–2014 (2014) and 2016–2020 (2020) compared with 1997–2004 as a percentage of their original values; the 2020 figures for large chemical and pharmaceutical companies are unavailable on data protection grounds. Negative values indicate that expenditure and/or earnings were lower than in the reference period, whereas positive values indicate an increase on the reference period. The trend for low-tech companies in the low-tech category is towards rising income, despite a fall in relative expenditure since the reference period. Large companies in the high-tech category experienced a decline on both axes, as companies invested less in R&D and sales of new products fell. SMEs in all categories reduced expenditure from 2014; income decreased, falling to below the reference-period value in all categories.
