Analysis of Labour Market Monitoring 2024
What trends are shaping the Swiss labour market in international cooperation? Our labour market monitoring report shows how the sector is evolving – from the composition of the workforce to recruitment challenges and developments in education and training.
22 May 2025
About the Report
Updated with data for the years 2021–2023, the report highlights long-term developments in the Swiss labour market for international cooperation (IC). The analysis sheds light on workforce structure, education trends, and areas where demand and supply continue to diverge. While the monitoring does not reflect current developments in the sector, it offers an important basis for assessing their future impact.
Key Insights
- The sector is growing but at a slower pace
The number of full-time equivalents (FTE) in the IC labour market increased by around 7% between 2020 and 2023. Growth continued, but at a slower rate.
- Certain profiles remain difficult to recruit – particularly in support functions such as fundraising, HR or finance
Employers report ongoing skills shortages, especially in “HR, finance, IT and administration” as well as “media, communication, fundraising and marketing”, despite high demand in these areas.
- Women remain underrepresented in field roles abroad
The share of female staff in Switzerland is 57% in humanitarian aid and 63% in development cooperation – much higher than in field operations, particularly in humanitarian aid, where it drops to 35%.
- Workforces in Swiss organisations are becoming increasingly international
In 2023, Swiss nationals accounted for only 39% of staff employed under Swiss contracts. For positions in humanitarian aid abroad, the share of Swiss nationals was just 15%.
- For the first time, there is a decline in IC-specific education and training enrolments
Following strong growth up to 2020, recent years have seen a slight decrease in enrolments in IC-related study and training programmes.