Labor market: Broad language skills significantly increase job opportunities

The Swiss labor market starts 2023 with a slight decrease in the number of job vacancies. Thus, the Adecco Group Swiss Job Market Index stagnates at a still historically high level. Compared to Q4 2022, Q1 2023 records 1% fewer advertised job ads. However, compared to the same quarter last year (1Q2022), the Job Index increased by 4%. "The mild winter played a critical role in creating a potential energy crisis and accompanying economic slump to prevent. As a result, demand for labor remained stable overall. This can also be seen in the unemployment figures, which remain at a very low level as of February 2023," explains Yanik Kipfer of Job Market Monitor Switzerland.

Special focus: Language skills in the Swiss labor market

Switzerland is known for its cultural diversity, which is particularly evident in the four national languages German, French, Italian and Romansh. Linguistic diversity points to the importance of language skills as a decisive competitive advantage in the Swiss labor market. This is especially true at a time when companies are increasingly operating globally and communication with customers and business parties from different countries is growing. But which languages are actually in demand among employers and how relevant is the simultaneous mastery of several languages? For this purpose, the Job Market Monitor of the University of Zurich examined job advertisements with regard to language requirements. Specifically, the languages implicitly or explicitly mentioned in the job advertisements were analyzed. Thus, an advertisement was classified as "mentions the language German" if it is written in German (implicit mention of the language) or if statements such as "knowledge of German desired" appear in the advertisement (explicit mention of the language).

An analysis of demand by national language shows that the vast majority of job advertisements posted in Switzerland mention knowledge of German (87%), followed by French (23%) and Italian (4%). In addition, knowledge of Swiss German is mentioned in around 1% of job advertisements, compared to less than 1% for Romance language skills. The distribution of demand by national language thus largely corresponds to the linguistic composition of Switzerland. According to the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, 62% of the Swiss population spoke German as their main language in 2021, followed by French (22.8%), Italian (7.9%) and Romansh (0.5%).

With regard to foreign languages, English (32%) is the second most frequently mentioned language after German. The demand for English skills thus exceeds the demand for the national languages French, Italian and Romansh. Only a small proportion of job ads published in the last nine years mentioned knowledge of other foreign languages (~1%), with Portuguese and Spanish being the most frequently mentioned languages. Overall, it can be observed that more than one-third of the advertisements mention two or more languages, with employees with skills in two languages being particularly sought after. Frequently mentioned language combinations were German and English or German and French.

Regional Differences: The Linguistic Röstigraben

An analysis of the demand for languages in the various major regions shows that German language skills are in demand in the vast majority of job advertisements in the major German-speaking regions: Eastern Switzerland (99%), Zurich (95%), Central Switzerland (94%), Northwestern Switzerland (93%) and Espace Mittelland (90%). Nevertheless, in Southwestern Switzerland (37%), more than one-third of job ads sought applicants with knowledge of German.

French skills are particularly important in southwestern Switzerland (73%). In contrast to knowledge of German in southwestern Switzerland, knowledge of French plays a lesser role in the major German-speaking regions, with the exception of the Espace Mittelland (32%), which includes both French- and German-speaking cantons. Job advertisements that mention French language skills never account for more than one-sixth of all advertisements in the individual major German-speaking regions of Switzerland.

English skills are primarily important in large regions with international business centers, such as Zurich (42%), Southwestern Switzerland (42%), Northwestern Switzerland (34%), and Central Switzerland (30%). In these regions, companies and organizations are often focused on global markets and have international business partners.

Knowledge of Italian tends to play a minor role compared to the other languages. Even in southwestern Switzerland, which includes the canton of Ticino, only 7% of all advertisements sought knowledge of Italian. In the remaining major regions, the demand for Italian language skills represents only a marginal share.

Specialists office and administration: language talents wanted!

The demand for languages also varies according to occupational group and language region. In general, it can be said that regional main languages (e.g. German in the German-speaking part of Switzerland) are particularly relevant for manual professions and professions in service and sales. These occupational groups are often in direct contact with their clientele and predominantly serve regional markets.

A more detailed analysis of the data also reveals differentiated differences in the regional composition of demand. For example, across all occupational groups, proficiency in German is more in demand in Latin Switzerland than in French in German-speaking Switzerland. It is striking that almost half of all job advertisements in Latin Switzerland for the occupational groups technical specialists (49%) and office and administration specialists (48%) require knowledge of German. In comparison, the occupational group with the highest demand for knowledge of French in German-speaking Switzerland - office and administration specialists (30%) - shows that knowledge of the other national language is of greater importance in Latin Switzerland than in German-speaking Switzerland. This can be attributed in particular to the linguistic diversity of Latin Switzerland, which includes French- and Italian-speaking cantons as well as German- and French-speaking cantons such as Valais and Fribourg.

In Latin Switzerland, somewhat more value is generally placed on English skills than in German-speaking Switzerland. In both language regions, managers in particular are expected to have a good command of English. Surprisingly, managers are also the occupational group for which knowledge of the respective regional national languages is demanded the least. Overall, it can be said that English skills play an important role in both language regions, especially for university professions and office/administrative professions. In the case of Italian language skills, it is also apparent that occupational groups from southwestern Switzerland have a higher demand than those from German-speaking Switzerland. In both language regions, however, Italian skills are predominantly mentioned in job ads for office and administrative professionals.

In general, it can be observed that knowledge of several languages is particularly important for office and administration professionals. The reason for this is presumably that the clientele served by these professionals, in contrast to the clientele of manual and sales occupations, often transcend language and national borders.

Source: Adecco Group