Growth of the Swiss economy and the role of immigration - interesting insights from a financial expert

Growth of the Swiss economy and the role of immigration - interesting insights from a financial expert

According to a report by www.nzz.ch, Switzerland's GDP increased by 1.2 percent last year, in contrast to countries such as Germany or Austria, where GDP shrank. One criticism of this growth is that immigration merely inflates GDP without benefiting individual citizens. However, Jan-Egbert Sturm, head of the economic research center at ETH Zurich, argues that growth requires additional resources, including an increasing number of workers, which in turn leads to immigration.

Sturm emphasizes that the long-term potential growth of the Swiss economy depends partly on the increasing number of employees and partly on increasing productivity. He argues that without immigration, the economy's productivity growth would decline because the economy relies on well-skilled human capital, which is becoming scarce as the native population ages.

Another factor is that working people in Switzerland are working less and less and enjoying more leisure time. This leads to a labor shortage that must be filled by immigration. Nevertheless, the growth of the economy has not increased GDP per capita more because the Swiss population has benefited from greater prosperity, which has enabled many people to work less. Furthermore, growth has led to more money being available for social welfare organizations and fewer fights over distribution.

Overall, the analysis shows that the growth of the Swiss economy depends on immigration and increased productivity and that the population has benefited from increased prosperity, which has allowed many to enjoy more leisure time and work less. This report highlights the importance of immigration and productivity improvements to a nation's economic growth and prosperity.