Wage Development, Personnel Costs and
Value Added
Between 2001 and 2010, employees’ wages rose by 21.3% (nominal) and by 12.4% in real terms, as a result of the annual wage adjustments. The wage bill is now over CHF 3.8 billion, and personnel expenditure around CHF 4.9 billion. Overall, Migros expends more than 70% of its total net value added for the benefit of its employees.
On 1 January 2010 real wages at Migros were increased by an average of 1.65%. This wage adjustment (Chart) forms part of a wage policy strategy that is oriented to the long-term sustainability of wage development rather than to short-term effects. That is beneficial for the employees. While private sector wages in Switzerland rose between 2001 and 2010 by 15.2% (nominal) and by 6.1% (real), nominal wages at Migros over the same period increased by 21.3% and real wages by 12.4%. This is well in excess of wage developments across the economy as a whole. Because employees have such a major share in the contribution that Migros makes to value added in the Swiss national economy, they made a further substantial contribution to the social value added that Migros generated in 2010 through its value added. Over 70% of Migros’s total net value added was paid out for the benefit of its employees.