page_title: Solothurn
section_title: Economy
hierarchical_section_title: Solothurn / Economy
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Solothurn: Hauptbahnhof Français&#160;: Gare de Soleure
context_page_description: Solothurn is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the north-west of Switzerland on the banks of the Aare and on the foot of the Weissenstein Jura mountains.
  The town is the only municipality of the district of the same name.
  The town got its name from Salodurum, a Roman-era settlement. From 1530 to 1792 it was the seat of the French ambassador to Switzerland. The pedestrian-only old town was built between 1530 and 1792 and shows an impressive array of Baroque architecture, combining Italian Grandezza, French style, and Swiss ideas. The town has eighteen structures listed as heritage sites.
  Agriculture, once the dominant sector of employment, has become almost non-existent. Most people today are employed in manufacturing and education.
  The official language of Solothurn is German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.
context_section_description: As of  2010, Solothurn had an unemployment rate of 4.6%. As of 2008, there were 22 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 4 businesses involved in this sector. 2,587 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 178 businesses in this sector. 14,381 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 1,226 businesses in this sector. There were 8,023 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 46.9% of the workforce.
  In 2008 the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 13,378. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 16, of which 7 were in agriculture and 9 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 2,430 of which 1,398 or (57.5%) were in manufacturing and 813 (33.5%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 10,932. In the tertiary sector; 1,537 or 14.1% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 454 or 4.2% were in the movement and storage of goods, 610 or 5.6% were in a hotel or restaurant, 583 or 5.3% were in the information industry, 975 or 8.9% were the insurance or financial industry, 1,095 or 10.0% were technical professionals or scientists, 614 or 5.6% were in education and 2,612 or 23.9% were in health care.
  In 2000, there were 13,529 workers who commuted into the municipality and 3,598 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 3.8 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. Of the working population, 20.1% used public transportation to get to work, and 40.3% used a private car.
caption: Solothurn's train station
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