Geneva to introduce ‘The world’s highest minimum wage’
Geneva is to introduce a minimum wage of almost £3,500 a month, reported to be the highest in the world after locals approved the measure in a surprise vote result sparked by reports of growing coronavirus-linked poverty in the Swiss city.
The canton’s 500,000 voters passed the minimum wage proposed by local unions and leftwing parties, after twice rejecting it in 2011 and 2014.
The minimum hourly wage will be set at just under £19.50 an hour, more than twice the rate in neighboring France, with a guaranteed minimum monthly salary of 4,086 Swiss francs (£3,457) based on a 41-hour working week, or 49,000 Swiss francs (£41,430) a year, in one of the world’s most expensive cities to live.
How the basic hourly rate compares
Geneva‘s new minimum wage will equate to just under £19.50 ($25.12) per hour – this is how it compares:
Australia: £11 ($14.17) an hour
France: £9.28 ($11.95) an hour
UK: £8.72 ($11.23) an hour
United States: £5.63 ($7.25) an hour
Geneva is the world’s second most expensive city, according to a cost-of-living index compiled by Expatistan.
But it was hit particularly hard by the outbreak of Covid-19 due to its reliance on revenue from tourists and business visitors.
It has suffered growing coronavirus-linked poverty as families have become increasingly reliant on provisions from food banks – with queues of more than half a mile long forming at the peak of the pandemic.
Michel Charrat is the president of the Groupement Transfrontalier European – an organization that represents cross-border workers in France and Switzerland.
He told in a statement that the vote represented a ‘mark of solidarity’ across the economic divide in Geneva.
Mr. Charrat said: ‘COVID has shown that a certain section of the Swiss population cannot live in Geneva.’
He added the measure would benefit 30,000 low-paid workers – with two-thirds of them being women.
The new minimum wage was initially proposed by the Left-wing parties in Switzerland who argued that its introduction was the best way to address the rising cost of living.
Geneva (pictured) is the world’s second most expensive city and it was hit particularly hard by the outbreak of Covid-19 due to its reliance on revenue from tourists and business visitors
Those on the Right had instead suggested adopting a limit on immigration from EU member-states as a way of tackling the crisis – but voters rejected this proposal.
The city’s new minimum wage will be set at just under £19.50 ($25.12) per hour.
This is more than triple that in the United States, which operates at £5.63 ($7.25) per hour, and more than double the basic hourly rate in the United Kingdom of £8.72 ($11.23).
By Sanjida Jannat
