Salaries in Switzerland

How much money can I make? This is a popular expat question when people consider working in Switzerland or moving to Switzerland. The 2013 Lohnbuch has the answers­ (it better, since it's 800 pages long) but it will set you back CHF 65 and it’s in German besides.

There are also answers to Swiss salary questions on the Swiss Confederation’s website. The catch here is that you must know German, French, or Italian and understand enough details about your job to use this very Swiss form (The Frau was not Swiss enough and got stuck by question three.).

Working in Switzerland

The Swiss Trade Union Federation also has a salary calculator, but again, it is only in French, German, and Italian and has the same problem of being very Swiss and therefore very detailed. 

If you’re looking for some general guidelines, here are a few of the salary reports from the 2013 Lohnbuch that Blick am Abend published on April 2:

(Salaries are per month, times 13 months for a yearly salary)

Director of Zurich Gaswerks: CHF 18,610

Head Physician: CHF 12,824

Zurich Church Minister: CHF 9,084

Zurich Kindergarten Teacher: CHF 5,707

Train Driver: CHF 5,332

Florist: CHF 3,625

Hairdresser: CHF 3,400

Taxi Driver: CHF 3,200

Building Cleaner: CHF 3,200

Circus Artist: CHF 3,000 (no 13th month salary)

According to Swiss News, the average employee in Switzerland is paid CHF 5,823 per month. 

Michael Page also has a salary survey for executive positions in Switzerland, such as HR Director (CHF 185,000 annual average). 

Anyone else know of good ways to find out what you can expect from Swiss salaries?