WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  RESTRICTED 
S/C/W/340 
20 September 2011  
 
(11-4553) 
Council for Trade in Services  Original:   English 
  
 
COMMUNICATION FROM SWITZERLAND 
 
The Services Sector, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Employment:  
the Case of Switzerland 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 20 Septem ber 2011, from the delegation of Switzerland, 
is being circulated to the Members of the Council for Trade in Services.  
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I. DEFINITION AND CHARACTERISTICS 
1. The so-called "sectoral papers" presented by the Secretariat shed some light on the role and 
importance of small and medium-sized enterprises in the services sector.
1  The objective of the present 
communication is to present the characteristics of sm all and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the 
tertiary sector in Switzerland's economy.  Statistical  data are based on Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs). 2 
2. The Swiss economy is characterized first and foremost by approximately 299'000 SMEs.  
These enterprises represent 99,7 per cent of all companies in Switzerland and two-thirds of all employees.  In many sectors, the growth in resp ect of employment by SMEs is higher than the 
national average
. 
3. They generally have a high ability to occupy ni che positions.  In general, Switzerland's SMEs 
can be considered as the "backbone of the Swiss economy".  Small and medium-sized companies in 
Switzerland's tertiary sector represent circa 2.3 m illion Full-Time Equivalents, compared to circa 
448'000 FTEs for Switzerland's big enterprises in the services sector. 
4. There is no common definition of what constitut es an SME, and each country or organization 
has its own definition.  The definition most commo nly used in Switzerland categorizes companies as 
follows: 
(a) less than ten FTEs are micro-sized enterprises, 
(b) those with less than fifty FTEs are small-sized enterprises, and 
(c) those with less than 250 FTEs are medium-sized enterprises. 
Especially for statistical purposes companies with less than 250 FTEs are considered to be small or 
medium-sized firms. 
                                                      
1 S/C/W/301; S/C/W/302; S/C/W/303; S/C/W/304; S/C/W/310 and Corr. 1; S/C/W/311; S/C/W/312 
and Corr. 1; S/C/W/313; S/C/W/314; S/C/W/315; S/C/W/316; S/C/W/317; S/C/W/318; S/C/W/319; S/C/W/320; S/C/W/324; S/C/W/326; S/C/W/334. 
2 All statistical information are provided by Fe deral Statistical Office, Neuchâtel, Switzerland. S/C/W/340 
Page 2  
 
  5. The relative importance of SMEs for the Swiss economy varies from sub-sector to sub-sector.  
Table 1 below ranks the 12 sub-sectors of servi ces according to the contribution of SMEs to 
employment (Switzerland, 2010).  Distribution Se rvices (526'700 FTEs), Health Related and Social 
Services (380'500 FTEs) as well as Professional Services (261'800 FTEs) show the largest 
employement figures.  In these three dominant services sub-sectors, Swiss SMEs employ nearly 1.17 
million FTEs, i.e. approximately 50 per cent of all FTEs in the services sector in the SMEs in 
Switzerland. 
 
Table 1:  Services sectors in Switzerland's SMEs (fourth quarter of 2010) 
 Sub-Sector FTEs 
1. Distribution Services 526'700 
2. Health Related and Social Services 380'500 
3. Professional Services 261'800 
4. Financial and Insurance Related Services 211'900 
5. Educational Services 191'900 
6. Transport and Storage Services 185'300 
7. Hotels, Restaurants, Gastronomy in general 181'400 
8. Other Economic Services (e.g. car rental, travel agencies, etc.) 117'300 
9. Information and Communication Services 112'300 
10. Other Services 72'300 
11. Artistic, Entertainment and Recreational Services 34'200 
12. Housing and Real Estate 23'100 
 2'298'700 
Source:  Federal Statistical Of fice, Neuchâtel, Switzerland. 
II. DETAILED CONSIDERATION OF THE THREE DOMINANT SUB-SECTORS 
6. The ranking of the three main services sub-sectors in Switzerland's SMEs may cause some 
astonishment, and an examination of the precise composition of each one of them is necessary. 
7. Distribution is the sub-sector where SMEs are creating most jobs, according to the official 
statistics on FTEs in the services sector in the Swiss SMEs .  This is due to the fact that the statistics 
take into account not only of wholesale distribution ser vices or supermarkets, but also of a large range 
of other distributors, such as small corner stor es, groceries, bakeries, souvenir shops, newspaper 
kiosks or mobile selling activities.  They include  specialized shops for electronics, appliances, 
household articles and motor vehicle center, includi ng the after sales activities such as delivery, 
maintenance and repair.  As to the company struct ure, those entities may be family businesses, so-
called "sole-ownerships", or more organized types of  firms.  In this sub-sector a diminution of FTEs 
during the 1990's and early 2000's is observed, but th at tendency is reversed since 2005.  The number 
of FTEs in small and specialized shops drope d from 567 at end 1991 to as low as 498 at end 2005, 
possibly a consequence of new forms of business intr oduced by large-scale stores.  The recovery to 
today's level of 527 amounts to a sizeable 5 per cen t, possibly supported by changes in consumers' 
preferences. 
8. Why is the sub-sector Health Related and Soci al Services taking the second place?  In that 
regard, it is important to note that the statistics c oncerning that sub-sector contains professions that are 
usually considered to be professional services according to the Services Sectoral Classification List3, 
for example doctors, psychiatrics, physiotherapists  and a wide range of para-medical professionals 
(CPC prov. 93191).  Furthermore, the national st atistics on Health Related and Social Services 
contains dental services, including dental hygien e (CPC prov. 9312).  In addition it must be 
underlined, that these statistical data represent a larg e range of different activities, such as laboratory 
                                                      
3 Services Sectoral Classification List, MTN.GNS/W/120, 10 July 1991.  S/C/W/340 
 Page 3 
 
 
  analysis, various sorts of residential home services,  nutrition counseling services, etc.  The types of 
company structures that prevail in that sub-sector  vary from the self-employed professional, to the 
group of partners, in both cases with some employed  assistants, to more formalized types juridical 
persons.  This sub-sector shows a steady gr owth of FTEs over the past 20 years. 
9. The Professional Services, which generally can be considered as an important and highly 
diversified sub-sector, appear to be quite underrepresented in compar ison with Distribution Services 
(Professional Services: 261'800 FTEs; Distribution Services: 526'700 FTEs).  The most obvious reason for this is the fact, that, as already menti oned in paragraph 8, certain professions are already 
included in the Health Related and Social Servic es Sector.  Also this sub-sector shows a steady 
growth of FTEs over the past 20 years. 
10. Despite the fact that the official statistics on SMEs in the Swiss services sector is, to a certain 
extent, based on a different methodological approach compared to the Services Sectoral Classification 
List, it can be summarized that these three sectors are dominant in Switzerland's service industry. 
III. CONCLUSION 
11. Switzerland's economy is generally character ized by many small and medium-sized 
enterpises.  A more accurate consideration shows that SMEs play a crucial role in Switzerland's 
services sector:  five times more FTEs are employed in small and medium-sized enterprises than in 
the large companies. 
12. SMEs are dominant in particular in three sub-sectors of the Swiss service industry:  
a) Distribution Services, b) Health Related and So cial Services, and c) Professional Services.  All 
three sub-sectors together represent almost 50 per cent of all jobs in the SMEs in Switzerland's tertiary 
sector. 
13. SME probably use different ways and modes of  export compared to large multinationals.  
Equally, they may be sensitive to other types of trad e barriers compared to large firms.  Therefore, it 
may be important to take account of the compositi on of firms and that aspect of structure of the 
national economies in analyzing individual sub-sect ors, in pursuing the request-and-offer processes 
and in evaluating the benefits of commitments undertaken. 
 
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