10.03.2026 - Switzerland saw a mixed performance across market sector activities in the 4th quarter 2025. Turnover fell by 0.8% compared with the same quarter of the previous year and employment in these same market sectors remained stable (total employment +0.2%).
In the secondary sector (industry and construction), turnover fell by 4.3% and employment by 0.1%. Tertiary sector (service) market activities recorded an increase in turnover of 1.5%, while employment remained stable compared with the previous year.
Secondary sector
In the 4th quarter 2025, the secondary sector recorded weaker results than a year earlier. Industry recorded a fall in turnover of 6.0% and employment also fell (-0.7%). However, construction turnover rose by 3.1% and employment increased by 1.1%.
Tertiary sector
Turnover trends varied among different tertiary sector market activities in the 4th quarter 2025. While real estate activities recorded the highest increase in turnover (+8.6%), transportation and storage reported a decline in turnover of 4.9%. Employment trends in the tertiary sector (market activities) also varied: administrative and support service activities recorded the highest increase in employment (+2.3%), while information and communication saw the largest decline (-4.3%). Retail turnover rose by 1.2% and employment by 0.4%.
Focus: Information and communication
Between 2021 and 2025, information and communication activities developed more dynamically than the tertiary sector as a whole. Employment grew by 8.6%, which was slightly more than the 6.8% growth seen across the tertiary sector. Turnover from these activities rose by 14.0%, much more than the average 0.2% decline seen across services over this period. The main drivers of this growth were computer programming, consultancy and related activities and information service activities (economic divisions 62-63). Employment from these activities rose by 14.7% and turnover by 23.7% - driven in particular by information services (economic division 63, +45.1%) and computer programming, consultancy and related activities (economic division 62, +18.5%). In contrast, telecommunications (division 61) and publishing and media (divisions 58-60) are facing a sustained long-term decline in employment and turnover.
From a short-term perspective, the situation looks considerably worse. Employment in information and communication fell by 2.5% in 2025 compared with the previous year - much more than in the tertiary sector, where it remained stable (+0.4%). The decline is especially pronounced in publishing and media (-6.1%) and telecommunications (-3.5%), whereby employment in computer programming, consultancy and related activities also fell (-1.5%). In terms of turnover, the situation looks more favourable. At +1.3%, information and communication activities grew slightly faster than the tertiary sector as a whole (+0.1%). Economic divisions 62-63 grew by 2.3%, with equally balanced growth in computer programming, consultancy and related activities and in information service activities, while telecommunications (-1.3%) and audiovisual media (-1.0%) recorded a fall in turnover.
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