The Swiss Job Index and the Confidence Index of PageGroup has provided an optimistic outlook for the Swiss job market in 2018.

“With strong growth across so many sectors there is every reason to be positive about the demand for specialists in 2018”, Jérôme Bouin, Managing Director of PageGroup Switzerland, said.

PageGroup highlighted six reasons for the optimistic outlook into the Swiss Job Market for 2018 below.

1. Advertised jobs have grown +25.3% year-on-year (December 2016 – December 2017): According to the Michael Page Swiss Job Index (December 2017), this is the second year in a row that advertised jobs have shown a positive double digit growth.

1. Candidates have never been more optimistic: According to the PageGroup Confidence Index (Q4 2017), the confidence of job seekers has reached its highest level in the third quarter 2017 and stayed at that level during fourth quarter 2017. 53% of candidates are confident about improving their overall professional situation over the next 6-12 months.

1. Temporary jobs grew by 15.3% year-on-year (December 2016 – December 2017): According to Jérôme Bouin, Managing Director of PageGroup Switzerland, the good news is that “many temporary jobs translate into full-time jobs”.

1. Demand exceeds supply for many specialist jobs: IT, Pharma, Engineering. According to Jérôme Bouin, “we already see this trend continuing in 2018 – especially as the digitalisation in the industrial sector grows”.

1. Companies are investing in sales jobs. The higher the investment in sales jobs, the greater business leaders confidence in increased demand and revenue streams. Advertised jobs in sales grew by 11% year-on-year across Switzerland – especially in specialist fields such as pharma, med-tech and IT.

1. All regions show strong growth in advertised jobs: Double digit year-on-year growth was seen in advertised jobs across all regions led by –the Mid with 38.4% and 33.6% in the North region.