I know a case when authorities refused to give a work permit to a permit S holder with a contract with a salary in bottom 30% of the range for such a position. They demand an average salary higher than ~60% of salaries. The median salary is lower than the average.
Someone with far from perfect German and no Swiss experience would be happy to work for that salary. And the employers would be happy to save on the labor costs. But not willing to pay the same as for an experienced Swiss. Also, one day those permit S holders will be forced to leave Switzerland, and the employer will lose an experienced employee.
Basically, Switzerland offers either low pay, low skills, or high paid high skills jobs for permit S holders.
Normal office jobs are reserved for citizens and work permit holders.
What should have a higher priority, protecting the job market or reducing social help payments by helping those who depend on them enter the job market?
Either you have experience which would allow you to find a higher paying job (many of us have done) or they suspect you would be applying for social help anyway if the job pays not enough.
I don ́t think that the "normal" jobs are not open to S job seekers, why would that be?
Officially they are open, but S job seekers need to get approval, and for the approval, the salary should be higher than the one the employer may pay to a work permit holder, who does not need the approval. This and usually lower German skills and the absence of long-term perspective force the employers to avoid S job seekers.
Technically it is the prospective employer that needs to seek approval, not the s-permit holder.
In my experience this is a formality and approved by the authorities within days.
But if the proposed salary or working conditions fall outside the range that the canton believes is reasonable for the type of job, it can be rejected.
Not only does this help prevent exploitation of vulnerable individuals potentially being forced to work in unsuitable conditions, it also helps prevent wages in the broader job market from being depressed by a companies exploiting a potential cheap labour force.
Yes, for the reasons you say. And this is true for the granting of permits in general, not only for those currently holding an S-Permit.
There is a proposal to change the work permit requirement for Status S holders from a preapproved permit for each job to a reporting requirement, according to this article. This change would make the process for Status S holders the same as for recognized refugees. The article notes, however, that it will takes a few months before details are worked out:
https://www.bote.ch/nachrichten/schw…en-art-1507962
For example, a certain job salary is in the range 60k-120k, with a median salary 85k.
Someone with little experience and permit S would be happy to work for 70k, but Amt für Wirtschaft und Arbeit says the salary should be the average of the market, 90k.
The employer does not want to pay 90k for an inexperienced employee and cancels the contract.
At the same time, a permit B holder would get that 70k position with no problem.
I believe there is no point in discriminating permit S holders and I am happy it has been realized on the highest level.
As S-permit holders are eligible for welfare benefits plus support for other daily costs, it is in everybody's interest to get them in to work as soon as possible.
But on balance there also needs to be some controls to protect the individual from being exploited and the wider society from the potential negative consequences of a large influx of cheap labour.
I have not seen any evidence of specific minimum thresholds so I can't comment - do you have a link to any official sources to backup your example? I am curious where the bar is set.
Assuming what you are saying is true then as long as the job offer is at least average then it is allowed - to me this seems a fair compromise balancing the different stakeholders' views. Where would you draw the line?
The Bundesrat announced today that the Status S permit will be extended until 4 March 2025. As part of this announcement, the Bundesrat also set a workforce participation goal of 40% for Status S permit holders:
“At the same time, efforts are being stepped up to integrate as many Ukrainian refugees as possible into the labour market. The Federal Council aims to increase the employment rate from the current level of around 20 per cent to 40 per cent by the end of 2024. In order to achieve this goal, the Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP), together with the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER), the cantons and the social partners, will develop and implement further specific measures.”
No lifting of protection status S (admin.ch)
I guess that in such statistics only people who are in in legal age for working are included? I don't see this info on this page.
If it's indeed like this, I am actually surprised how small percentage of Ukrainian refugees work. I help with Ukrainian refugees in the Gemeinde where I live, and I know there was a delay with langauge courses (in different Gemeindes near Zurich they only started in 08.2022) but still
One of the main reasons only 20% Ukrainians work is that only low paid jobs accessible for the most. And AOZ stops paying for the apartment, krankenkasse and support money. At the end you may get only 1000 extra per month. Not many want full time and usually hard work fo 1000.
I do not believe this is the case. If they get a substantive job, then they’ll be entitled to a B permit.
https://euaa.europa.eu/sites/default…zerland_EN.pdf
Too bad that many have to.......
From the company's perspective an S-permit is also a blocking factor because it is deemed to be temporary only. According to the Swiss authorities, once the war is over the S-permit becomes invalid and people are expected to return.
Companies would then have to complete the non-EU hiring process, which can be costly, time-consuming and has no guarantee of success.
Unfortunately this is not my experience...I understand the company would need to go through the usual non-EU hiring processes in order to move the person to a B-permit.
Otherwise the only way to move to a B-permit is to wait for 5 years of annual S-permit renewals and, assuming the need for protection is still in place, the Swiss authorities then issue a B-permit.
The temporary nature of these s-permits is really an issue because why would a company hire someone in to a permanent role when in theory the S-permit could be revoked at any time and the employee may lose permission to live/work in Switzerland.
You are mixing work permit, and permit B. Work permit for a permit S holder is just a permission to work. AWA checks the contract, salary, skills and experience. And may block the contract. Which is the original topic of this thread.
Conversion to B permit will happen only in a few exceptional cases.