A New Typology to Describe the Regional Differences in Swiss Labor Markets

Abstract

The analysis of the Swiss labor market poses a methodological challenge. On the one hand, Switzerland is too diversified to be analyzed as a single socio-economic space. On the other hand, a high level of territorial fragmentation makes the use of administrative divisions methodologically weak. In this paper, we classify Swiss cantons into three types of labor markets: attractive, multicenter, and marginal. Our typology is based on a wide range of economic and labor market parameters, and can be a ready-to-use tool for further researches.