Everyone Wants to Study Economics. The Job Market Has Other Ideas.
Record numbers of students are enrolling at the University of Zürich — and a striking share of them are heading straight for the economics faculty.
At the start of the autumn semester 2025, 28,664 students were enrolled at UZH, with 4,932 new registrations — a new record. According to the Tsüri briefing, two-thirds of new students are enrolling in the economics faculty specifically, drawn by what advisers at Zürich's careers information centre describe as the perceived gateway the degree offers into future employment.
The logic is understandable. The dean of the economics faculty, Jamie Brama, maintains that an economics degree will remain attractive for the foreseeable future. But the numbers tell a more complicated story. The Adecco Group Swiss Job Market Index for Q1 2026 shows only a 0.7% increase in advertised vacancies compared to the previous quarter — a fragile stabilisation in an environment that remains challenging, with US tariff policy weighing on export-oriented sectors and geopolitical tensions dampening the investment climate.
Zürich saw the biggest regional drop in job vacancies in 2024 at -15%, and economics and social science graduate professions were among those hit hardest. Meanwhile, what employers are actually looking for is shifting. The structural transformation underway places growing emphasis on transferable skills, teamwork, self-organisation, and analytical thinking, rather than formal qualifications alone.
