Swiss rally to defend employment

“We are approaching 4 per cent unemployment,” which he said was “a lot” for Switzerland.

“We have had enough of ‘bonus knights’ and managers with excessive salaries,” Paul Rechtsteiner, the USS chief, said.

The Swiss economy shrank 0.8 and 0.3 per cent in the first and second quarters respectively in 2009.

The central bank has forecast a contraction of up to three per cent for all of this year.

Bern has launched three economic boosting programmes since the crisis struck, totalling $2.2 billion.