working in Switzerland, really an El Dorado?

They live in France, but cross the border every day to go to work. In the canton of Geneva (Switzerland), there have never been so many: nearly 112,000 cross-border workers. If salaries are much more attractive in Switzerland, the choice of life also imposes opposites. Bruno Gallorini, who lives in Haute-Savoie, works as an electrician on construction sites in Geneva. The majority of his colleagues are French, like him. “I win between 4 000 and 5 000 francs [environ 5 000 euros, ndlr] per month”he confides.

Jean-Pascal Cottalorda is responsible for public relations at the Carouge theater (Switzerland). He doubled his salary, but faces more expenses. “We pay our own social security, mutual insurance, daily travel”, he lists. A cross-border worker for 20 years, he also recognizes that the pace of work is more sustained in Switzerland, where RTTs do not exist, than in France. “Otherwise, it’s four weeks of vacation per year, and 40 hours of work per week, minimum”he adds.

Haute-Savoie’s proximity to Switzerland makes it one of the departments where the standard of living is the highest. Thanks to his salary, Bruno Gallorini and his wife had a house built near the border. But if Switzerland is attractive, an association nevertheless warns: labor law there is more flexible than in France, and offers more flexibility to the employer.