Switzerland / More Eastern Europeans looking for work

Once the eurozone crisis took hold with particular intensity in Southern Europe, more and more people are looking for work abroad. Switzerland has become an attractive destination for migrants from the East and South.

Maja Majchrzak is from Poland. She has worked as a ski instructor since Christmas at the Swiss resort town St. Moritz. Majchrzak could be called a modern European nomad – educated, adventurous and flexible. Before she came to Switzerland, she worked as an English teacher for five years at a language school in Milan. As the financial crisis took hold in Italy, she decided to move on.

“Switzerland appealed to me because it is right in the middle of Europe and offers unusually good salaries,” explained Majchrzak, who speaks several languages.

Foreign language competency opens up access to the Swiss job market to many immigrants from eastern Europe.

“If it was just about skiing, then we’d have enough people from Italy and Germany,” said Franco Moro, director of the Ski School St. Moritz, adding, “With Eastern Europeans, there are often deficits when it comes to thinking about service, but many can speak Russian – and that is a very important qualification for us.”

Choosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor from

via More Eastern Europeans seek work in Switzerland | Europe | DW.DE | 14.01.2013.