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Many companies lack staff and the shortage of skilled workers is getting worse. What are the recipes of the parties against it?
Urgently wanted: electrician, cook, engineer – these days, restaurants write such calls for help right under their menu board and craftsmen place them on the back window of their cars. The staff is scarce because many older workers are retiring and because after two years of Corona more workers are needed again. However, the topic is not at the top of the agenda for the political parties. Not yet.
The political scientist Michael Hermann is not surprised. Politicians are not good at acting with foresight. Because the unemployment rate is very low, the acute warning signal is also missing: “One was not properly prepared because the other issues dominated.”
Politicians tend to react more to current events, says Hermann: “First you need to be suffering. Politics is seldom good at looking too far into the future.” This can also be seen with the topic of climate change: “Here, too, something typically only happens when there is already a fire, so to speak.”
Is the education system dead?
The SP has already reacted to the labor shortage, emphasizes faction leader Roger Nordmann. With the day-care center initiative for even more childcare places, mothers in particular would be motivated to take up a job again or a higher workload.
In addition, the SP proposes an education and training offensive in the energy sector. With regard to the energy transition, it should be possible to train or retrain as energy specialists.
You have to be careful that the dual education system remains attractive not only for employers but also for young people.
So does the much-vaunted dual education system not provide enough training places in future-oriented industries, is the education system at its limit, Roger Nordmann? “No not at all. But you have to be careful that the dual education system remains attractive not only for employers but also for young people.”
For Nordmann, this also means that people who start retraining need better financial support, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to afford it.
We must increasingly show that a successful career can be launched by doing an apprenticeship – and then successfully completing it.
The SVP also relies on apprenticeships, emphasizes Esther Friedli. The National Councilor runs a restaurant and is looking for service staff. But fewer and fewer young people are choosing a career in the catering sector, says Friedli: “I really regret that, because it’s one of the most beautiful jobs – because you can make people happy. We must increasingly show that a successful career can be launched by doing an apprenticeship and then successfully completing it.”
Fear of imminent recession
In addition, Friedli wants to submit a request for a personnel freeze to the federal government. The federal government is constantly creating new jobs and is thus taking staff away from the private sector. The FDP says that politics cannot achieve anything in the short term. This is no longer necessary for Councilor Ruedi Noser, because he fears a recession soon.
As an entrepreneur, he hears that orders in the machine industry are already falling again. With inflation and high energy prices, Switzerland could slip into recession next year, says Noser. “It could be that we will soon have too many unemployed again.”
SVP economic politicians also assume that the economic situation will soon deteriorate. And that the signs “Engineer urgently wanted” could soon disappear again.