Switzerland minimum wage
STRUCTURAL NULL. Switzerland has NO national statutory minimum wage. A federal minimum wage was rejected by popular vote in 2014; wage floors are otherwise left to sectoral collective labour agreements (Gesamtarbeitsvertraege) and, in a minority of cantons, to cantonal law.
| Current value | structured — see the API |
|---|---|
| In force from | 2014-05-18 |
| Official source | Swiss Federal Chancellery (Bundeskanzlei) — Volksabstimmung vom 18. Mai 2014: the popular initiative 'Fuer den Schutz fairer Loehne (Mindestlohn-Initiative)', which would have written a national minimum wage of CHF 22/hour (CHF 4,000/month) into the Federal Constitution, was REJECTED by 76.3% of voters and by all 26 cantons |
| Last verified | 2026-07-23 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
POSITIVELY ESTABLISHED NULL, not an omission. On 18 May 2014 Swiss voters rejected the trade-union 'Mindestlohn-Initiative' (~76.3% No; ~2.21m No vs ~0.69m Yes; rejected in all 26 cantons), so there is no federal minimum wage and none is in prospect at national level. Wage floors instead come from (a) collective labour agreements per branch, and (b) a MINORITY of cantons that have legislated their own minimum wage — do NOT serve any of these cantonal figures as a national floor. Cantonal minimums (contextual only; each canton re-indexes to its CPI annually, so treat as approximate ~2026 levels and re-verify against the canton's own gazette): GENEVA ~CHF 24.5/hour (the world's highest general minimum, introduced by 2020 cantonal vote, indexed yearly); NEUCHATEL ~CHF 21.4/hour; JURA ~CHF 21.4/hour; TICINO ~CHF 20.0-20.5/hour (varies by sector, phased in from 2021); BASEL-STADT ~CHF 22/hour (2021 cantonal vote, certain sectors). Zurich and Winterthur city minimum-wage votes were struck down by the Federal Supreme Court. Because the served value is a national null, no cantonal source is cited as the primary source; the cantonal figures above are drawn from cantonal legislation and press and should be confirmed canton-by-canton if a specific cantonal rate is needed.
Get it programmatically
curl https://euroref.dev/v1/ch/minimum-wage
# $0.001 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://euroref.dev/v1/ch/minimum-wage/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://euroref.dev/provenance/ch/minimum-wageOther Switzerland series: policy interest rate · VAT rate · public holidays · inflation rate (CPI) · corporate tax rate · income tax rates