post-doc salary at ETH

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
1
Dear Forum,

I have been offered a post-doc position at ETH Zurich. They told me that my after-tax salary would be about 64000. Does this sound reasonable? I have 1.5 years of post-doc experience. Also, does anyone know if academic employers will pay any moving costs? I haven't seen the contract yet because we're still waiting for my work visa to be approved, so I'm not sure what to expect.

Thanks for your help.

-lab chic

2
64000 is, well, not very much. My last year as a PhD was at 53000, so you do the math.

Problem is, ETH salaries are not that much (and can vary wildly among groups), but you get paid for TA. For reference, in PSI you would get quite a lot more (around 80000).

Read here and contact the AVETH for more information:

http://www.aveth.ethz.ch/sg/regelung_en.html

As for paying the moving costs, two words: forget it.

Good luck!

3
Thanks for the link. What does brutto mean? Before or after tax?

If 64000 is after tax, about how much would that be before tax?

What do TA and PSI abbreviations mean?

Thanks.

4
I would say that is about normal for a science phd, I have a feeling it depends on the area of research you are working in. I think the post-docs I work with make about 6000 a month (Biological Sci). I think it is better than what you would get in Canada and you should also get a pension and maybe a few health benefits. It will say in your contract and such which will probably all be in German and may also depend on where your funding comes from. Zurich can be a great place and the ETH from what I know is a good place to be...

5
What is your salary before tax? I think a before-tax salary of about 80,000 CHF is quite reasonable. 64,000 after tax also sounds quite good -- I presume this is also a 13 month salary, so you would get close to 4920 CHF each month, plus the Christmas bonus!

6
"Brutto" is before tax. After tax is "netto" (never understood why they use italian words for that, oh well).

As a postdoc at ETH you'll have a lousy working permit (namely the "L") and you'll pay "quellensteuer", that is taxes will be taken directly at the end of the month and you won't have to do a tax return. Taxes should be around 25%, but I never paid quellensteuer so I am not sure.

Sorry, forgot to explain. "TA" is teaching assistant, PSI is the Paul Scherrer Institut, a federal research institute in Kanton Aargau ( www.psi.ch ).