For the first time in Swiss history, more than 50,000 companies were set up in the 12-month period covering 2021. According to a press release issued by the Institute for Young Enterprises (IFJ), the number of new entries in the commercial register came in at 50,545. This equates to growth of 7.9 percent versus the previous record year of 2020. Moreover, in a ten-year comparison, 2021 was 17 percent above the average, which represents another new record. Over the past decade, an average of approximately 43,000 new companies were recorded in the commercial register.
Start-ups create jobs
According to the IFJ’s annual analysis, the economic relevance of start-ups is clearly reflected in the creation of jobs. Roughly 400,000 people in Switzerland are employed in companies founded less than ten years ago.
When it comes to start-ups, the limited liability company (GmbH) is by far the most popular legal form. A total of 19,529 new GmbH firms were registered in 2021. However, at +13.2 percent, the largest increase in comparison with the previous year was actually recorded for the legal form of a stock corporation (AG) company.
Services leading the way
In terms of the sector breakdown, services such as job placement, care services, corporate and personal services lead the way with an increase of +32.3 percent. Thereafter follow the retail sector at +17.5 percent, agriculture and forestry at +17.2 percent in addition to finance and insurance at +17.1 percent. According to the IFJ analysis, the most significant declines in percentage terms were recorded in the areas of marketing and communications (-7.3 percent), transport and logistics (-4.1 percent) and the wholesale trade (-2.9 percent).
