How labour market is ‘divided’ between EU nationals and Swiss; an 8-year-old brings a gun to school; plus other news in our roundup this Friday.
How labour market is ‘divided’ between EU nationals and Swiss
According to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the healthcare, hospitality, construction, and manufacturing sectors “have been heavily reliant on recruitment from the EU/EFTA area.”
By 2025, 50 percent of those employed in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries came from those countries, 42 percent worked in watchmaking and hospitality, and 34 percent in construction.
Conversely, labour needs in sectors such as education and public administration “are primarily met by Swiss nationals.”
“Thus, over the years, the division of labour between indigenous and foreign workers has intensified, with immigrants more often occupying positions in high-growth, knowledge-intensive economic sectors, but also in fields characterised by difficult working conditions and job insecurity,” SECO said in a report published on Thursday.
An 8-year-old brings a gun to school
Though a regular occurrence in the United States, kids in Switzerland don’t usually (if ever) show up in class armed with weapons.
But a third-grader in Selzach, canton Solothurn, did just that.
The school immediately alerted the police, who were able to confiscate the (thankfully unloaded) weapon on site.
However, “due to a possible violation of the weapons law, the incident has been reported to the Solothurn Cantonal Youth Prosecutor’s Office,” the cantonal police reported.
The investigation was opened into how and where the child obtained the gun in the first place.
Switzerland records hottest ever June day at 38C
Switzerland registered its hottest ever June temperature on Thursday, with 38C measured in Basel, breaking a previous record of 36.9C set eight decades ago.
“Temperatures exceeded 37C for the first time in Switzerland during the month of June, breaking a record set in 1947,” MeteoSuisse said.
It highlighted that “a temperature of 38C was even recorded at the Basel weather station – the same place where the 1947 record was logged.”
In Switzerland, the highest heatwave alert level is currently in effect across much of the country. (AFP)
Switzerland’s most important threat comes from Russia
The Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) reported on Thursday that “security situation in Switzerland has deteriorated further – and no return to calm is in sight.”
Russia, the FIS said, “remains the greatest and most acute threat; its hybrid warfare tactics are becoming more aggressive and directly impacting Switzerland.”
The country is “attacked” on multiple fronts in terms of espionage and proliferation, in cyberspace, at the level of critical infrastructure, but also by violent extremism and the high terrorist threat, according to FIS.
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