tfz Newsletter Q3 / 2024

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the Newsletter is in German.

Continuing economic boom in Zug?

The Zug economy is currently at an all-time high. Following the coronavirus pandemic, the number of people employed by Zug companies has increased by more than 6%. The more than 40,000 companies entered in the commercial register will soon employ more people than the canton has inhabitants (growth per year: 1%). The revenue surpluses of the canton and municipalities have been at a record high for several years and are now in the mid three-digit million range for the canton, making it the largest net contributor to the National Fiscal Equalization (NFA) in 2025, ahead of Zurich nota bene. An economic boom without equal!

Where does this success come from and will it continue? There is a clear answer to the first question: Zug's “boom years” began at the end of the 1950s, when the first US commodities and wholesale traders moved to the canton. This transformed the canton from a good industrial location into an outstanding service and trade location. At the same time, the business cluster structure expanded. Coupled with persistently low taxes for all, a very well-educated population and good accessibility, Zug has long topped the national economic rankings. Will it stay that way? This question is not so easy to answer, but it currently looks that way. Zug's continued stable low-tax policy, a broad cluster landscape in the second and third sectors, business-friendly and agile authorities and administration as well as partnership-based cooperation between private and public players are the guarantors of this. At most, the question is whether Switzerland will remain attractive as a business location, including the framework agreement and electricity agreement with the EU as well as a liberal labor market.

The TFZ stands for well-known Zug success factors: it is committed to maintaining Zug as a strong industrial location and top managers from companies and the administration work together as partners on its board. This is something that other business locations do not offer. The TFZ was and remains on the pulse!

Zug's successful economy is based on a past that has been shaped by innovative key individuals, companies and authorities. So there is no future without a past. Two recent publications provide a good insight into this. The digital platform www.zuginderwelt.ch, which deals with Zug's industrial history since 1820, and the book “Boomjahre” (“Boom Years”) and the supplementary website www.boomjahre.ch, which shed light on Zug as a model of success from 1985 to the present day.

Gianni Bomio
tfz Vorstandsmitglied