Guest Workers as an "Automatic Stabilizer" of Cyclical Unemployment in Switzerland

Authors

W. E. Kuhn, Professor of Economics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Keywords

Swiss American Historical Society, unemployment, workers

Abstract

In the early 1970's, in excess of 5 percent of the total population of France, Germany, Britain, and Switzerland were immigrants, The extreme case was Switzerland, where one person in six had come from a foreign country. Between them, the four mentioned countries had nearly 10 million immigrants; this accounts for more than nine-tenths of the West European total of nearly 11 million. This estimate may be on the low side; Feurer indicates that in 1972 some 8 million guest workers lived in Europe who together with their families comprised about 13 million people, contributing some Sfr. 80 billion (about $30-35 billion at recent rates of exchange) to the GNP of the host countries.

Recommended Citation

Kuhn, W. E. (1977) "Guest Workers as an "Automatic Stabilizer" of Cyclical Unemployment in Switzerland," Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter: Vol. 13: Iss. 3, Article 5.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_newsletter/vol13/iss3/5