Mar, Feb 14th 2023
Ukrainian refugees wait at the border of Poland in spring 2022.
A spiderweb of Swiss bureaucracy, rules and doubts about Ukrainian refugees’ abilities are preventing them from filling open positions in Switzerland – although the demand for workers is high right now, local newspaper NZZ informes.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly one year ago, Switzerland has prided itself on welcoming about 80,000 Ukrainian refugees with open arms. Swiss volunteers met refugees at train stations, helped them find housing and enroll their children in Swiss schools.
Switzerland even fast-tracked a special “S” visa for refugees which would allow them to live and work in the country for at least one year. Ukrainians with this status also receive a stipend of 250 Swiss francs per month, which is intended for language courses or whatever training is needed to help them get jobs. The goal of all of this has always been to help Ukrainians integrate into the Swiss labor market, Federal Councilor Karin Keller-Sutter said in June 2022.
Last year, nearly 40% of the Ukrainian refugees in Switzerland reported wanting jobs, but only 14% of all working-aged refugees have Swiss jobs currently, according to government data.
And Swiss companies say they are eager to hire Ukrainians. But if a prospective employee’s profile does not match the Swiss job vacancy perfectly – for instance, they require a month’s worth of training – they are often overlooked, Daniel Wessner, head of the Thurgau Office for Economics and Labor tells NZZ. Additionally, Ukrainian refugees’ university diplomas and degrees are not always recognized in Switzerland, so they can appear uneducated or unqualified.
Ukrainian refugees have been among the first people to receive Switzerland’s new S permit.
The biggest hurdles preventing Ukrainians from filling the badly needed positions in Switzerland come down to the airtight rules the country is known for: certain jobs require certain certificates, special language diplomas must be handed down by Swiss certified schools and so on. And that is not even before taking into account the individual cantonal rules which can vary greatly, even from city to city.
“In Austria, the rules are the same everywhere,” Julia Peters, the president of Good Friends for Ukraine, tells NZZ. Peters holds events in both Switzerland and Austria to help place Ukrainian refugees in local jobs. Even when Ukrainians do receive that sought after job offer, it is nearly impossible for them to figure out how much of their salary will be left after taxes, health insurance and other Swiss deductions. And that is before childcare costs come into play.
Given that many refugee families consist of one mother and children, childcare is at the forefront of their needs. The Swiss childcare system is inordinately expensive and in high demand. Childcare alone can deter many mothers from seeking or committing to jobs in their new adopted country.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands reports that nearly 50% of their 55,000 Ukrainian refugees between the ages of 15- and 65-years-old have jobs. Why have they been so successful? For one, Ukrainians have had free access to the Dutch labor market since April, while most refugees are required to hold a job for six months before gaining a permit. For comparison, only 9% of Afghan refugees are employed and 2% of Syrians.
Most Ukrainians in the Netherlands are finding work in restaurants and agriculture, according to Dutch employment agency UWV. As English is often the preferred language – especially in hospitality – Ukrainians who have studied English are adapting quickly. It is much rarer to find Ukrainians who have studied German, French or Italian.
Switzerland is beautiful, but the cost of living is some of the highest in the world.
Marco Romano, Central National Councilor and President of the State Political Commission, argues that the community-based Swiss system is actually working quite well for refugees. As local municipalities are used to taking matters into their own hands instead of waiting for orders from Bern, the country was able to quickly settle tens of thousands of refugees. This patchwork is also the reason why their integration is working better in some cantons versus others.
For example, canton Graubünden has created job coaching courses for Ukrainians, which, in turn, also created more jobs for refugees.
“We are preparing for the fact that many will stay here longer,” says Felix Birchler, head of the local integration department there. Birchler is developing a wage model for those trained in IT and other specialties with S visas. The model would entice employers to hire refugees and invest in their training.
“If we don’t do anything today, we risk problems in three years that we could have avoided,” says Birchler.
Significantly more Ukrainian refugees have found work in canton Thurgau than in the rest of Switzerland because the community offers more opportunities in agriculture and hospitality. In addition, the local government was quick to appeal to the refugees – putting employment information in their native languages and streamlining the process.
For now, be patient, says Daniella Lützelschwab from the Swiss Employers’ Association.
Lützelschwab says the fact that nearly 15% of Ukrainians have jobs in Switzerland is not bad compared to other refugee groups. Many of them are close to completing one year in German or French language courses and that experience will help them find jobs soon, she says.
Employers are also calling for the government to be patient when it comes to protecting Ukrainians who lose their S visas. They are calling for special “transitional periods” to be considered for Ukrainians who are in training or close to finding jobs.
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