The frontier workers in the Chablais
The frontier workers are people who live in a country and work in another one. They, therefore, live nearby a border. The Chablais is geographically very near Switzerland, so many frontier workers live there and go to work on the helvetic side of Lake Geneva every day. Their increasing number proves that their situation is interesting. Indeed, between 1998 and 2012, their number has practically doubled, going from 134,982 to 264,741. Almost 25% of these people work in Geneva, where they represent nearly 17% of the working population. The increase of the cross-border workers flow has been continuous and considerable after the free-movement agreements of 2001. 52.3% of the frontier-workers in Switzerland are French, and mainly come from Haute-Savoie. About one employee out of ten is a frontier-worker in the department.
However, the access to a job in Switzerland is regulated. A Frenchman who wants to work on the other side of the border has to own a « G permit », a working authorization.
If Switzerland attracts so many workers, it is that the latter has a considerable economic benefit. In 2010, the average gross monthly wage in Geneva was equal to 6,775 CHF (Swiss Francs), whereas it was about 2,700€ in France. Moreover, the frontier-workers can benefit from the current euro/franc exchange rate, favourable to the franc.
Currently, 1€ is worth approximately 1,2 CHF (franc).
The traffic is the major drawback of the cross-border workers flow. Indeed, given their place of residence, French workers don’t really have any other choice than using their own car, the public transports and the park-and-rides located on the outskirts of the city. The traffic in the city center (and even in the outskirts of Geneva) is constantly blocked, especially during rush hour. Every morning and every evening, thousands of commuters take their car to move from one country to another. The lack of highways and motorways also accentuates the traffic congestion during the peak commuting hours. As a result, some frontier workers prefer to go to work by boat. There are shuttle-boats going from Thonon to Geneva, from Evian to Lausanne…
The economic impact of the cross-border workers’ activity on the Chablais is considerable. The attractiveness of the status of frontier worker brings many workers in the area, developing even more the economic activity of towns like Thonon or Annemasse. As a matter of fact, the wages often higher of the cross-border commuters allow them to reach better living standards. Thereby, we can denote a significant increase of the real estate prices in the chablaisian area during the last decades.
However, the strong growth of the number of French people working in Switzerland, though it is a reality, tends to be slowed down (or faces hostility) by political parties like the MCG (Citizen Movement of Geneva), which would like more jobs to be attributed to their fellow citizens. As a consequence, it becomes more and more difficult to get a job in Switzerland, unless being well-qualified and having a high degree (60% of the frontier workers work in the third sector).
territoires.rhonealpes.fr <http://territoires.rhonealpes.fr>
lemessager.fr <http://lemessager.fr>
travailler-en-suisse.ch <http://travailler-en-suisse.ch>
wikipédia (eh oui)
et Linguee pour la traduction.
As shown on the map, there are over 65, 000 cross border workers in the Geneva area.
Some of the shuttle-boats’ routes.
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