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Geneva, Switzerland, Friday 6 March 2026 – As of 1 January 2026, women hold 27.5% of national parliamentary seats worldwide, up modestly from 27.2% in 2025, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) report Women in parliament 2025. This 0.3 percentage point increase matches 2024's rate, marking the slowest growth since 2017 for the second consecutive year.

The report is based on IPU data from the 49 countries that held parliamentary renewals for 62 chambers in 2025.

Women's leadership in parliament drops sharply
The proportion of women Speakers of Parliament has dipped to 19.9% (54 Speakers) compared with 23.7% a year ago.
Of the 75 new Speakers appointed or elected in 2025, only 12 were women (16%).
Regional leaders and biggest increases

The Americas remained the region with the highest representation of women in parliament, with women making up 36.1% of members elected to the 20 chambers in 13 countries that held renewals in 2025.

Overall, women accounted for 35.6% of all parliamentarians in the Americas as of 1 January 2026, across all chambers and countries.

The region is also home to four of the seven countries that have now reached parity, or more women than men, in their lower or single chamber – Bolivia joins Cuba, Nicaragua and Mexico in the Americas– alongside Rwanda, Andorra and the United Arab Emirates elsewhere.

Kyrgyzstan recorded the greatest progress in women's representation in countries that held parliamentary renewals in 2025, with a 12.9 percentage point increase in women in its Parliament. It was followed by Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (+12.3 percentage points) and the upper chamber in Saint Lucia (+9.1 percentage points).

Quotas remain decisive

Well-designed and implemented quotas continued to play a critical role in boosting women's representation in parliaments, as demonstrated notably in Kyrgyzstan and Ecuador.

In 2025, chambers with some form of legislated or voluntary quota elected or appointed an average of 30.9% women, compared with 23.3% in chambers without quotas.

Record highs in some countries

Despite the overall slowdown, several countries set new records.

In Australia, 69 women were elected among 150 MPs in 2025, giving women their highest-ever share of seats at 46%.

Czechia also saw a historic result. Sixty‑seven women were elected to the 200-member lower chamber, up from 50 women in 2021, lifting their share from 25% to one third of MPs.

Women's representation in Ecuador's National Assembly reached 45% after the 2025 election, an all-time high.

The year 2025 was a landmark for Japan's political history: for the first time, the country has a woman Prime Minister and, after elections in July, women's overall representation in the upper chamber stands at a record 29.4%.

 Laggards and biggest drops

By contrast, women's parliamentary representation remained lowest in the Middle East and North Africa, where women hold just 16.2% of seats on average.

Three countries, Oman, Tuvalu and Yemen, have no women MPs in their lower or single chambers.

 Violence against women politicians

In early 2025, the IPU released findings from its study of the prevalence of sexism, harassment and violence against women in parliaments in the Asia-Pacific region. It followed previous similar studies focusing on the African and European regions.

The Asia-Pacific study showed high levels of violence, with 76% of women parliamentarians reporting psychological violence.

And more recently, the 2026 IPU report When the public turns hostile: Political violence against parliamentarians found that women MPs are more affected by intimidation by the public – both online and off – than men, with 76% of women surveyed experiencing violence versus 68% of men.

This growing phenomenon may discourage some women from running for office, an additional obstacle to progress in women's political representation.

Some countries have taken steps to address the violence: the Philippines Electoral Commission intervened when male candidates made disparaging remarks about their female peers, and the Colombian Parliament passed a law to prevent and punish violence against women in politics.

The IPU is the global organization of national parliaments. It was founded in 1889 as the first multilateral political organization in the world, encouraging cooperation and dialogue between all nations. Today, the IPU comprises 183 national Member Parliaments and 15 regional parliamentary bodies. It promotes peace, democracy and sustainable development. It helps parliaments become stronger, younger, greener and more gender-balanced. It also defends the human rights of parliamentarians through a dedicated committee made up of MPs from around the world.

GlobalData, a leading intelligence and productivity platform, has announced that MEED, its Middle East-focused business intelligence platform, has launched a dedicated content hub providing real-time updates and expert analysis on the evolving US–Israel–Iran conflict.

The new page aggregates verified reporting, analysis, and commentary from MEED's editorial team and trusted sources, offering readers a single destination to follow developments and understand their implications for the region's economies, projects, and business activity.

As geopolitical tensions continue to escalate, the volume of information circulating across digital platforms has grown rapidly, making it increasingly difficult to separate credible reporting from speculation. MEED's hub has been created to address this challenge by bringing together reliable coverage and contextual analysis backed by decades of regional expertise.

Agnieszka Sienicka, Head of Marketing and E-commerce at GlobalData Plc & MEED, says: “In times of geopolitical uncertainty, access to credible, verified reporting becomes essential. Through this MEED hub, we aim to bring together rigorous analysis, regional insight, and trusted sources to help readers understand not only the developments themselves but also their potential impact on economies, projects, and businesses across the Middle East.”

MEED has reported on the Middle East's political, economic, and project landscape for nearly seven decades and continues to provide decision-makers with timely intelligence and analysis on key regional developments.

The dedicated hub will be updated regularly as the situation evolves, ensuring readers have access to the latest verified information and expert perspectives in one place.

To receive updates and expert insights directly in their inbox, readers can subscribe to the MEED Spotlight newsletter or bookmark the dedicated page.

Notes

Quotes are provided by Agnieszka Sienicka, Head of Marketing and E-commerce at GlobalData Plc & MEED

About GlobalData

GlobalData Plc (LSE:DATA) operates an intelligence platform that empowers leaders to act decisively in a world of complexity and change. By uniting proprietary data, human expertise, and purpose-built AI into a single, connected platform, we help organizations see what's coming, move faster, and lead with confidence. Our solutions are used by over 5,000 organizations across the world's largest industries, delivering tailored intelligence that supports strategic planning, innovation, risk management, and sustainable growth.

MEED, a GlobalData company, provides news, data, analysis, and intelligence on the Middle East's economic, political, and project landscape.

Most comprehensive study to date linking global air connectivity and multinational investment, covering 7.5 million firms and 400,000 flight routes over 30 years
Beyond evaluating number of direct connections, the researchers' new methodology – measuring pairwise connectivity, and degree, betweenness and eigenvector centrality – identifies the deeper network factors that shape global investment
Knowledge-intensive sectors such as finance, technology and professional services are especially sensitive to the quality of a city’s global air links

Singapore, 23 January 2026: A new study by the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology’s (SMART) Mens, Manus & Machina (M3S)interdisciplinary research group, alongside collaborators from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and National University of Singapore (NUS), has identified a strong statistical association between global air connectivity and patterns of where multinational corporations (MNCs) invest and set up subsidiaries. This is the most comprehensive global study merging 7.5 million firm records with 30 years of international flight data across more than 800 cities in 142 countries.

Illustrative snapshot of global air network as of 2019 and top hubs by eigenvector centrality. Nodes represent airport cities and links denote direct flight routes, while node size and colour highlight the most central cities as measured by eigenvector centrality. The right panel ranks the top 20 cities. 2019 data is shown here as it represents normal operating conditions, and key findings remain consistent over three decades. (Photo: SMART M3S)

The study’s significance lies in its unprecedented scale and its new methodology, which goes beyond evaluating the number of direct routes. Previous studies typically examined a small set of large global cities, specific regions or domestic flights, and often covered only short time periods. Additionally, the effect of air connectivity on a city’s attractiveness is often only assessed using local connectivity measures, such as total passenger flows or the number of direct flights to other cities. However, this overlooks the topological configuration of the global air transportation network and the influence of indirectly connected airport cities.

“Rigorous and data-driven research around connectivity is essential to understanding the forces that shape our cities and economies and to uncover the hidden infrastructure that enables global businesses. As cities become more interconnected and strive to evolve into global hubs, insights from large-scale, interdisciplinary research such as this will be critical to guiding sustainable growth,” said Fabio Duarte, Principal Investigator at M3S, associate director of MIT’s Senseable City Lab and co-corresponding author of the paper.

A new lens on a city’s economic competitiveness
The study, titled “Air Connectivity Boosts Urban Attractiveness for Global Firms” and recently published in Nature Cities, adopted a broader methodological approach. Analysing an unprecedented dataset allowed them to observe how improvements in air travel networks influence the expansion of MNCs into new cities.

The research combines firm-level records from the Orbis database with international flight data from the International Civil Aviation Organisation over three decades, from 1993 to 2023.

The study first evaluated pairwise connectivity – the number of direct and indirect flights between the cities in which parent companies and their subsidiaries are located. Then, to evaluate global connectivity, the researchers analysed patterns in the air travel network using network-based centrality measures – including degree (number of direct flight connections), closeness (how easily a city can reach others with minimal layovers), betweenness (how often a city acts as a transfer point between other cities) and eigenvector (a city’s flight routes and the connectedness of its linked destinations) centrality. The study found that pairwise connectivity, alongside degree, betweenness and eigenvector centrality, play a significant role in shaping where multinational corporations establish subsidiaries.
 
Key findings
Fewer layovers meant more subsidiaries: The study provided strong empirical evidence that air traffic connectivity is a critical coordination infrastructure for multinational corporations, showing a clear correlation between flight convenience and foreign investment. Even one layover is associated with an average of 20% fewer subsidiaries being established, and this rises to 34% with two or more layovers.

Quality of flight connections matters most: A city’s eigenvector centrality – capturing not only a city’s own flight routes but also its indirect connections through its destinations, reflecting its embeddedness in the global air network – was found to be the strongest predictor of how many foreign subsidiaries it attracted. Cities with flight connections to influential global flight hubs consistently outperform those with more flight connections but to less-connected destinations – a 10% increase in eigenvector centrality is associated with nearly a 1% increase in the number of foreign subsidiaries.

Knowledge-intensive sectors rely on connectivity: The impact of air connectivity is especially pronounced in industries that depend on frequent face-to-face interaction, including finance, consulting, technology and other knowledge-based services. For these sectors, direct flights and strong global connections are especially important for attracting investment, while the effect is much weaker for others such as manufacturing and retail.

Singapore among highly connected cities
Singapore hosts roughly 6,000 large- and medium-sized foreign-owned subsidiaries with a minimum annual revenue of US$5million – the highest number for any city. In the connectivity metrics studied, Singapore scores highly on eigenvector centrality – alongside other cities such as London, Paris, Hong Kong, Dubai and Tokyo – reflecting its strategic links to other well-connected airports. These patterns suggest that global connectivity is a contributing factor – among other unobserved factors – that may shape where multinational firms choose to locate.

Global distribution of MNC’s subsidiaries in 2023. Each dot represents an airport city, with colour shading indicating the number of subsidiaries of foreign MNCs in 2023 (red represents the highest number). The right panel ranks the top 20 cities by subsidiary count.

“By looking beyond simple counts of routes and examining how cities are embedded in the wider air network, our study reveals the deeper structural factors that shape multinational expansion. It demonstrates that firms respond not only to a city’s direct access, but also to the strategic advantages conferred by its position within global connectivity,” shared Wen-Chi Liao, Associate Professor of Real Estate and Assistant Dean at the NUS Business School, Visiting Associate Professor at the MIT Center for Real Estate (CRE) and one of the authors of the paper.

Navigating the path to global competitiveness
The practical implications of these findings are significant for policymakers, urban planners and business leaders. Notably, the patterns and findings identified in the study have remained strong throughout the 30-year period, even amidst massive changes in how businesses operate and connect – shaped by shifts such as the internet, rapid digital advances, teleconferencing and digital collaboration tools, and the COVID-19 pandemic. This enduring relationship underscores the importance of maintaining and strengthening strategic air connections to increase a city’s attractiveness to multinational firms and foreign investment.

For Singapore, the research suggests that its continued focus on innovation and strategic planning in aviation has proven to be essential, particularly as global competition intensifies.

“This study highlights important implications for urban planning and economic policy, as air connectivity isn’t just about adding more routes for travel – it’s about sustaining economic vibrancy and being attractive to MNCs. The results are clear – being connected to influential hubs is critical in better overcoming coordination barriers and accelerating business expansion,” saidAmbra Amico, Postdoctoral Researcher at M3S and co-corresponding author of the paper.

As global competition and trade frictions intensify, cities that prioritise not just the quantity but the quality of their air network connections will be best positioned to attract foreign investment and drive sustainable economic growth.

“With trade and geopolitical frictions, it’s more and more important to have face-to-face interactions to build trust for global trade and business. You still need to reach an actual place and see your business partners, so cities with good air connectivity really influences how global business copes with global uncertainties,”, said Siqi Zheng, Principal Investigator at M3S, Professor and Faculty Director of MIT Center for Real Estate, and one of the authors of the paper.

The research conducted at SMART was supported by the National Research Foundation Singapore under its Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) programme.

Migrant women in Australia are finding more independence, equality and a healthier and wealthier life with more opportunity than in their home countries, according to a new survey.

An overwhelming majority of women migrants find life in Australia ‘better’ than in their home countries and believe they have more rights than at home.

Most say they have more opportunities here than at home and are more financially independent.

And overwhelmingly they say they have more control over their daily lives here in Australia and believe men and women should have equal access to opportunity.

But a large majority (62 per cent) said that violence against women was an issue in their communities. More than half (57 per cent) said violence against women was more prevalent in their home countries while 31 per cent said it was more prevalent in Australia.

The survey of 150 new women migrants and refugees from non-English speaking countries, commissioned by refugee and migrant settlement agency AMES Australia, also found that migrant women in Australia have more access to a range of services and activities including education, work, women’s health, childcare, driving a car and political and religious activity.

Timed to coincide with International Women’s Day 2026, the survey asked, ‘As a woman is life in Australia better for you than in your home country?’ Seventy per cent of respondents said ‘yes’ and nine per cent said ‘no’ while 21 per cent said there was no difference.

Ninety per cent of women said they had more rights in Australia than in their home country while 7 per cent said they did not.

Seventy-one per cent of the survey respondents said there were more opportunities for women in Australia than at home while 19 per cent disagreed.

Asked about particular services or activities that could be accessed in Australia, more than sixty per cent said both education and women’s health services were easier to access in Australia.

Sixty-seven per cent said work was more accessible in Australia, while 54 per cent cited driving a car as being easier in Australia and 56 per cent said childcare was more accessible.

Meanwhile 28 per cent said religious activities were more accessible in their home countries and 28 per cent said work was easier to come by.

An overwhelming 80 per cent of respondents said Australian women were more independent than women in their home countries.

Sixty-six per cent said they were more financially independent in Australia while 20 per cent said they were less financially independent and 17 per cent said there was no difference.

Seventy-two per cent of women said they had more control over their daily lives and five per cent said they had less control while 20 per cent said there was no difference.

Seventy-one per cent of respondents they believed women should have the same opportunities as men.

AMES Australia CEO Melinda Collinson said the survey showed that women migrants and refugees new to Australia were optimistic about their new country and were striving to become part of the wider society.

“What the survey tells us is that migrant and refugee women who come to this country appreciate the level of equality we have and the opportunities that are available to women here,” Ms Collinson said.

“It shows that most migrants value our services and institutions want to make the most of what this country offers them,” she said.

“But is also tells us that violence against women is an issue in all communities and we still have work to do to eliminate it,” Ms Collinson said.

Nepali migrant Reshma Manandhar said Australia offered opportunity and financial independence for women.

“In Australia women have opportunities for education, employment and personal development that are not available in m any countries,” Ms Manandhar said.

“Women can have serious careers in Australia. While there are barriers and impediments for women, it’s possible to achieve your dreams here,” she said.    

Bangladeshi migrant and student Rupananda Roy, who recently completed a PhD at the University of Adelaide, said attaining higher education would have been much more difficult in her own country.

In doing so, she made history by becoming the first woman from one of Bangladesh’s 50 ethnic minority communities to earn a doctorate.

“My family and my husband and his family have been very supportive. Without this support, it can be quite difficult for women from my culture to pursue higher education,” Ms Roy said.

Brazilian-Australian Thelma Nascimento said educating people in diverse communities was important for future generations.

Ms Nascimento, a community advocate in the prevention of violence against women, said: “Violence against women is an issue in every community including my own”.

“We need to educate people from a young age that everyone deserves to be treated equally and with respect,” said Thelma, who runs an anti-family violence not-for-profit group called ‘Break Boundaries’.            

March 5 2026 – Bitcoin is surging as global markets rebound and President Donald Trump reinforces his support for the digital assets sector in its intensifying confrontation with traditional Wall Street banks.

This is the bullish assessment from Nigel Green, CEO of global financial advisory giant deVere Group as the cryptocurrency jumped 8% to as much as $73,777, its highest level in a month, as investors rotated back into risk assets following easing fears about the potential impact of the war in Iran on global energy markets.

He says: “The Bitcoin rally reflects two powerful forces aligning at once: improving risk sentiment across global markets and renewed political backing for crypto from Washington.

“The original and most influential crypto is responding to a combination of macro relief and political support.

“Markets had been rattled by concerns the Iran conflict could deliver a prolonged shock to energy markets and global growth.

“As those fears eased, investors moved back into risk assets and crypto is often the fastest responder when sentiment turns.

The deVere CEO continues: “At the same time, President Trump has stepped in publicly, via his Truth Social platform, to defend the digital assets sector against pressure from traditional banks, which sends a clear signal to markets about the direction of US policy.”

Late on Tuesday, Donald Trump posted that banks were attempting to undermine the Genius Act and warned his administration would not allow it.

The legislation created a regulatory framework for the rapidly expanding stablecoin sector.

Since its passage, tensions have grown between crypto firms and traditional lenders over rules that allow platforms such as exchanges to pay interest on stablecoin balances held by users.

Nigel Green says the dispute highlights a deeper shift underway in global finance.

“Stablecoins are emerging as a new digital form of the US dollar, and that places crypto platforms into direct competition with traditional banks,” he explains.

“When banks push back against that development, it shows how significant the shift has become.”

Bitcoin had fallen sharply from its October peak near $125,000 before rebounding in recent sessions as broader market sentiment appears to improve.

The latest rally illustrates how closely digital assets are now tied to both macroeconomic developments and political signals coming out of Washington.

“Crypto markets react rapidly to changes in global risk appetite, but they also respond to regulatory direction,” he says.

“When geopolitical concerns ease and the White House signals clear support for the sector, those forces combine to create powerful momentum for digital assets.”

Last week, before the latest relief rally, and looking beyond mid-2026, Nigel Green said that he sees the potential for Bitcoin to exceed its previous record high before the year concludes.

“Once momentum re-establishes, fresh all-time highs are achievable before year-end,” he stated. “The prior peak is not a permanent ceiling.”

Nigel Green emphasises that volatility remains intrinsic to digital assets but argues that cyclical corrections have historically preceded renewed expansion phases.

“The key issue is whether structural adoption has stalled,” he says. “Our assessment is that it has not. Institutional infrastructure is broader, deeper and more resilient than at any point in Bitcoin's history.”

He concludes: “For now, the Bitcoin bulls seem to be back in charge.”

deVere Group is one of the world's largest independent advisors of specialist global financial solutions to international, local mass affluent, and high-net-worth clients.  It has a network of offices around the world, more than 80,000 clients, and $14bn under advisement.

Osnabrueck / Dubai, March 5, 2026. As the global automotive industry continues to undergo profound transformation – from electrification and digitalization to evolving supply chains and regionalized production strategies – Hellmann Worldwide Logistics is reinforcing its commitment to this dynamic sector. The company has appointed Rahul Bhasin as new Global Vice President of Hellmann Automotive Logistics. In his new role, he will report directly to Alexandra Olvera, who recently joined Hellmann as the new CCO. Rahul Bhasin will lead Hellmann's global automotive logistics activities as part of the company's long-term strategy to further strengthen its position as a reliable logistics partner for OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers to drive sustainable, customer-centric growth in all regions.

With more than 15 years of strategic international leadership experience across the automotive industry, Rahul Bhasin brings a wealth of expertise spanning Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Europe. Having worked with leading automotive brands and consulting firms he has been instrumental in shaping market entry and growth strategies, enhancing customer experience frameworks and driving large-scale business development initiatives across global markets.

This appointment highlights Hellmann's ongoing commitment to the automotive sector. By combining in-depth industry expertise with a customer-centric approach, Hellmann intends to strategically develop the future of automotive logistics through resilience, innovation and close collaboration with its customers.

“The automotive industry remains one of the most strategically important and innovation-driven sectors in our global portfolio. It is a key growth driver for Hellmann, and we are committed to expanding our global footprint to support our customers' long-term success in an evolving market environment,” says Madhav Kurup, COO Airfreight, Seafreight, and Contract Logistics, Hellmann Worldwide Logistics.

“With Rahul's international perspective, strategic mindset, and proven track record, we are confident that he will play a key role in expanding our automotive footprint and supporting our customers as the industry continues to evolve,” adds Alexandra Olvera, CCO, Hellmann Worldwide Logistics.

About Hellmann
Hellmann Worldwide Logistics is a global logistics service provider with a comprehensive service portfolio that includes air- and seafreight, road and rail transport, and contract logistics. With annual sales of EUR 3.8 bn and around 12,000 employees in 61 countries, Hellmann moves over 20 mio shipments annually. Based on this broad product range and many years of experience, Hellmann offers innovative logistics solutions for the complex requirements of each individual customer and relies on visionary technical products to ensure maximum customer transparency while creating a more efficient supply chain.

www.hellmann.com

Thinking Ahead – Moving Forward

We operate exclusively in accordance with the German Freight Forwarders' Standard Terms and Conditions 2017 (Allgemeine Deutsche Spediteurbedingungen 2017 – ADSp 2017) and – if they do not apply for performing (supplementary) logistics services – with the General Terms and Conditions of Logistics-Services Providers (Logistik-AGB), as of March 2006. Note: In clause 23 the ADSp 2017 deviate from the statutory liability limitation in section 431 of the German Commercial Code (HGB) by limiting the liability for multimodal transportation with the involvement of sea carriage and an unknown damage place to 2 SDR/kg and, for the rest, the customary liability limitation of 8.33 SDR/kg additionally to Euro 1.25 million per damage case and EUR 2.5 million per damage event, but not less than 2 SDR/kg. You can find the ADSp 2017 here: www.hellmann.com/ffst and the Logistik-AGB 2006 here: www.hellmann.com/loggtc.
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The results of the KOF Economist Survey point to a significant impact of demographic change on the availability of labour. On the political side, participants see a need for action on the labour participation of women and older people, while they recommend wage increases and improved working conditions for companies.

Demographic change and the retirement of the baby boomer generation will lead to a significant increase in the age ratio, i.e. the ratio of retired to working people, in the coming years. According to a recent study by the Swiss National Bank (SNB), without immigration and assuming the employment rate remains unchanged, around 400,000 more people could leave the labour market than young people entering it over the next ten years. Against this backdrop, in December 2025 the KOF Institute surveyed academic economists about their assessments of the labour shortage in Switzerland. A total of 103 responses were received, representing a response rate of 13%.

Demographic change as the main factor in labour shortages
The survey participants were asked for their assessment of the most important factors contributing to a potential labour shortage in Switzerland. They consider demographic change to be the most important factor (87%), followed by skills mismatch (63%) and insufficient access to foreign labour (43%). Around 26% of participants see low labour force participation as an important reason, and only 9% cite insufficient wage growth (wage rigidity).

Disagreement on productivity effects – agreement on migration
Different schools of economic thought disagree on how a labour shortage would affect labour productivity. The survey participants were therefore asked whether they think a labour shortage has a positive, negative or no effect on labour productivity. The disagreement in the economic debate is also reflected in the responses: while 43% of participants state that a labour shortage has a (rather or clearly) positive effect on productivity, 36% think that the effect is (rather or clearly) negative. 16% assume that there is neither a positive nor a negative effect.

However, there is considerable agreement among survey participants on the importance of migration for structural labour shortages. Almost three-quarters of participants believe that immigration tends to reduce structural labour shortages (44%) or significantly reduces them (29%). Around 13% of participants, on the other hand, think that immigration tends to exacerbate (10%) or significantly exacerbate (3%) structural labour shortages by creating additional demand. A further 11% see neither an exacerbating nor a mitigating effect of immigration on structural labour shortages.

At the same time, a statistical analysis shows that there are significant differences in the responses given by different political camps: 86% of left-wing respondents believe that immigration reduces labour shortages (somewhat or significantly); the figure is 78% among centrists and 65% among right-wing respondents. Despite these differences, the majority view across the political spectrum is that immigration reduces labour shortages (somewhat or clearly).

Policy options: increasing labour force participation among women and older workers
The economists were also asked in which areas the Swiss government should take measures to counteract structural labour shortages, rather than leaving these areas to market mechanisms. The greatest support for active government intervention is found for measures to increase the labour force participation of women (80%) and older people (78%), as well as the promotion of continuing vocational training (78%). 49% believe that the Swiss government should remove barriers to migration, while 39% reject this. With only 20% approval, government measures to reduce part-time work are the least recommended by respondents.

Here, too, the political camps differ in their responses. Among economists who identify as (somewhat) left-wing or centrist, a majority support government measures to reduce barriers to migration (68% and 52% respectively); among (somewhat) right-wing participants, a majority of 63% reject these measures. Measures to increase women's participation in the labour market also receive the strongest support from (tending to be) left-wing respondents; however, a majority in all political camps are in favour of these measures (left 96%, centre 89%, right 63%). Government measures to reduce part-time work, on the other hand, receive the strongest support from right-wing participants: 29% agree, compared with 27% and 4% of centre and left-wing participants.

Higher wages and better working conditions as incentives
In addition to government measures, the economists surveyed also see opportunities for companies to counteract labour shortages. Around 94% consider improving secondary working conditions to be a (somewhat or very) effective means for companies to reduce labour shortages, while 90% consider increasing real wages to be (somewhat or very) effective. Only 35% and 34% of respondents respectively consider adjusting job profiles or outsourcing to other locations to be (somewhat or very) effective.

SNB monetary policy not a driver of labour shortages
A clear majority of 59% of survey participants (somewhat or strongly) disagree with the statement that the SNB's monetary policy has increased structural labour demand and thus contributed to a structural labour shortage. Just under 10%, on the other hand, agree (somewhat or strongly) with the statement that the SNB's monetary policy has contributed to the labour shortage. 21% neither agree nor disagree with this statement, and 11% actively refrain from commenting (“prefer not to answer”).

About the survey:
The KOF Economist Survey covers topics relevant to economic policy in Switzerland and is a tool for making the views of academic economists visible to the public. In December, the KOF conducted a survey on labour supply and structural labour shortages. The survey started on 1 December 2025 and ended on 24 December 2025. 798 economists were contacted. Responses were received from 103 economists from 19 institutions. This corresponds to a response rate of 13%.

Of the participants, 13% are younger than 36, 35% are between 36 and 45, 22% are between 46 and 55, and 28% are older than 56. 87% of participants are male and 10% are female. Broken down by age category, the proportion of women is highest in the 46 to 55 age group, at 20%. The proportion of women is lowest in the under-36 age group, at 0%.

73% of HR professionals already use AI for recruiting and onboarding.

Small and mid-sized business (SMB) HR teams are adopting AI tools faster than large enterprises, but they often do so without formal policies in place, security checks, or clear strategies for use. While 73% of HR professionals use AI for recruiting, onboarding, and administrative tasks, most SMBs still lack basic AI governance.

As a result, some of the most sensitive data in the organization, such as employee records, candidate information, payment details, and performance reviews, increasingly pass through consumer-grade AI tools that no one has selected, vetted, or can audit.

In practice, HR teams often paste resumes, performance documents, and compensation details into general AI tools to summarize, rewrite, or score them. If AI platforms store, share, or leak this data, organizations might never realize the exposure has occurred. Risks include accidental data leaks and prompt-injection attacks, where malicious input tricks AI into revealing confidential information.

“What most HR leaders don't realize is that consumer AI tools do more than summarize resumes. They keep training data, compare patterns across sessions, and expose organizations to prompt injection risks that even enterprise models find hard to fully prevent,” says Žilvinas Girėnas, head of product at nexos.ai. “HR teams should not wait for perfect policies. They must act now by restricting sensitive data uploads to unapproved tools and auditing current usage.”

The governance gap inside SMB HR

Across the industry, SMB HR teams work inside a maze of separate workflows, with each recruiter using different AI tools on their own. Recruiters and HR leads sign up for separate AI accounts, run candidate data through tools like ChatGPT or Claude, and build screening processes that others on the team cannot see or copy.

And the results speak for themselves. Research from Gartner and Phenom shows 88% of HR tech leaders have not seen much business value from AI investments even though adoption is widespread. Many teams pay for AI licenses while recruiters still manage spreadsheets, copy candidate data between tools, and rely on gut instinct for final decisions.

At the same time, a growing majority of small businesses use AI regularly, but most still have no formal policies to guide how it is used. This governance gap keeps growing.

“The people creating AI workflows in HR are not acting recklessly. They are solving real problems with the tools they have,” says Girėnas. “But when five team members use five different AI tools without shared workflows, visibility, or guardrails, it creates fragmentation, risk, and wasted spend. It is the shadow IT problem again, now involving personal data.”

A compliance time bomb in hiring

The governance gap is no longer just an operational issue — it is becoming a legal liability. A wave of state-level AI hiring rules is taking effect in the US, and most SMB HR teams are unprepared.

• Illinois amended its Human Rights Act effective January 1, 2026, to cover any employment use of AI that results in discrimination, requiring employers to notify candidates and provide opt-out options.
• Colorado's AI Act (SB24-205) introduces obligations for organizations deploying “high-risk AI systems” in employment decisions, including mandatory bias audits.
• New York City's Local Law 144 requires annual bias audits for automated employment decision tools.
• The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has clarified that under Title VII, employers remain liable for discriminatory outcomes caused by AI tools, even if provided by a third-party vendor.
• Multiple states now require disclosure and transparency when AI is used in hiring decisions. Individual ChatGPT accounts cannot meet these requirements.

For small HR teams, this means informing candidates which tools are used in hiring, why they are used, and how they may affect screening decisions.

“The challenge for HR teams isn't adopting AI – it's doing it with the right infrastructure and governance,” says Girėnas. “A head of talent acquisition at a 200-person company should not need an engineering team to automate candidate screening or piece together three AI tools hoping for compliance. They need a single platform to build workflows in minutes, with governance, audit trails, and compliance built in from the start.”

Burnout and tool sprawl: A vicious cycle

HR teams often use commercial AI tools out of the box largely because they are overwhelmed by their workload and the pressure to deliver faster hiring results. Recruiter burnout is at 68%, with many describing their tech stack as “one platform for every single step” rather than a coherent system. Instead of reducing stress, each new tool adds logins, workflows, and tabs, pushing recruiters closer to exhaustion.

AI use in recruiting has jumped from 26% to 53% in one year, but much of this growth is ad hoc and reactive. Under pressure to fill roles, recruiters sign up for AI tools that seem helpful, often using personal accounts without IT or legal review. The result is not just fragmentation, but rising burnout from constant context switching and growing exposure to compliance failures. A single candidate might be handled by several sourcing platforms, multiple scheduling tools, and a personal ChatGPT account before anyone even picks up the phone.

“Burnout and tool sprawl feed each other,” adds Girėnas. “The more exhausted recruiters become, the more often they reach for quick-fix tools that create new silos and extra work.  Instead of one clear workflow, they're juggling tabs, logins, and half-finished automations. The real fix isn't adding yet another point solution — it's designing a small number of shared, well-governed workflows that actually reduce clicks, context switching, and stress for HR teams.”

Skills-based hiring raises the stakes

The pressure on HR teams is increasing due to the rapid shift to skills-based hiring. Forbes and other analysts name it as a top workplace trend for 2026, and LinkedIn data shows candidates use AI to highlight experience around skills rather than credentials.

This change requires AI tools that evaluate skills, not just keywords, going beyond resume scanning to measure real ability. AI-powered interview analytics improve hiring accuracy by 40%, and predictive analytics improve talent matching by 67%. But these features are often locked in expensive platforms that cost six figures and require complex IT projects to set up.

SMB HR teams use consumer AI tools that summarize resumes but cannot run detailed skills assessments, integrate with applicant tracking systems (ATS), or generate the audit trails new laws require. This means candidates show up with AI-polished applications, while hiring teams make decisions with basic tools and little visibility into why the tools rank one profile above another.

Four actions SMB HR teams can take this week

SMB HR teams use AI extensively but often lack governance, exposing employee and candidate data to security, compliance, and bias risks. Many of these risks can be reduced quickly by:

1. Conducting a 30-minute AI audit. Ask every HR team member which AI tools they use, including free tools, browser extensions, and personal ChatGPT accounts.
2. Creating a simple AI policy. Use free templates from SHRM, AIHR, HiBob, or Triple AI Agency. At a minimum, define approved tools, permitted data, and who reviews AI-assisted decisions.
3. Banning sensitive data in unapproved tools. Prohibit team members from entering employee PII, compensation data, performance reviews, and candidate personal data in any unapproved AI tool.
4. Consolidating before adding new tools. Review if existing systems can cover new use cases before buying point solutions. Underused tools and overlapping platforms increase cost, risk, and burnout.

ABOUT NEXOS.AI

nexos.ai is an all-in-one AI platform for business teams that brings model access, agent automation and governance together, so your entire organization and its teams can turn AI potential into business results. Through a unified workspace and no-code automation, nexos.ai connects leading AI models to enterprise systems, data sources and workflows while enforcing security, governance and compliance at scale. Headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania, nexos.ai was founded by the creators of Nord Security and is backed by Index Ventures, Creandum, Evantic Capital, Dig Ventures and leading European angels.

Report sets scene as governments prepare to discuss targeted actions during week-long UN wildlife conservation meeting in Brazil: COP15.

COP15Bonn – Campo Grande – An interim update to the landmark State of the World’s Migratory Species of 2024 warns that 49% of migratory species populations protected under a global treaty are declining, up 5% in just two years, and 24% of species face extinction, up 2%.

The new warnings will be presented to the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS COP15), a legally-binding UN treaty, in Campo Grande Brazil March 23-29.

The week-long COP is one of the most important global meetings for wildlife conservation. With high-level political attention from host-country Brazil, the meeting is set to tackle an ambitious set of actions in addressing a vital aspect of the global biodiversity crisis.

Billions of individual aquatic, avian, and terrestrial wild animals migrate across lands, rivers, oceans and skies. They are essential to the well-functioning of nature and to human well-being, pollinating plants, transporting nutrients, regulating ecosystems, controlling pests, storing carbon and sustaining livelihoods and cultures worldwide.

Their survival depends on coordinated action across the full length of their migratory routes, which can cross multiple national borders and even continents.

Developed for CMS by the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and other contributors, the interim report tracks significant changes in the conservation status of migratory species and highlights emerging trends to provide new information focussing on:

Recent significant changes in the conservation status of species listed under the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS-listed) since the 2024 baseline, based on data from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Newly reported population trends and changes in extinction risk documented in the scientific literature.

Other key findings:

• 26 CMS-listed species, including 18 migratory shorebirds have moved to higher extinction risk categories.
• 7 CMS-listed species have improved, including the saiga antelope, scimitar-horned oryx, and Mediterranean monk seal.
• 9,372 Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) important for CMS-listed species have been identified.
• 47% of the area covered by KBAs is not covered by protected and conserved areas
• Progress has been made on filling gaps in knowledge on important habitats and migratory routes for sharks/rays and marine mammals, and new initiatives will identify areas for marine turtles.
• Despite some important successes, key indicators – such as the overall proportion of CMS-listed species with decreasing populations – are heading in the wrong direction.

The report also underlines encouraging developments:

• Advances in mapping of migratory pathways to inform decision-making. Initiatives to map migrations are gathering momentum. This includes those spotlighted in the report – the Global Initiative on Ungulate Migration (GIUM), the Migratory Connectivity in the Ocean (MiCO) system, and BirdLife International’s work to identify and map six major marine flyways.
• Progress in identifying and safeguarding important habitats and migratory corridors.
• Recovery of some species through coordinated action.

The new report is based on the latest available data, including significant changes in conservation status, newly reported population trends, and recent progress in identifying and protecting critical habitats and migratory pathways.

This focussed update provides Parties with the latest available evidence ahead of COP15 deliberations, helping to identify priority areas for action in advance of the next full report in 2029 at COP16.

Overexploitation, and habitat loss and fragmentation, are the two greatest threats to migratory species worldwide, notes CMS Executive Secretary Amy Fraenkel.

“The first global report was a wake-up call,” she said. “This interim update shows that the alarm is still sounding. Some species are responding to concerted conservation action, but too many continue to face mounting pressures across their migratory routes. We must respond to this evidence with coordinated and effective international action.”

The report underscores the need for action to improve the status of all migratory species listed on the Convention, but most urgently for the species listed on CMS Appendix I, where migratory species in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of their range, are listed.

These 188 Appendix I species include terrestrial mammals (28), aquatic mammals (23), birds (103), reptiles (8), and fish (26).

Parties that are Range States to Appendix I-listed species are required to provide strict protection, including the prohibition of taking (such as hunting or capturing), protecting and restoring important habitats, and addressing obstacles that impede the species’ migration.

Among other measures, a Global Initiative on Taking of Migratory Species (GTI), is expected to be launched at COP15. The new CMS-initiated initiative is designed to help governments, experts and local communities to ensure that any taking of migratory species is legal, sustainable and safe. It focused on new findings that the threat of taking for domestic use is far greater than international trade.

“If we intervene only at the point of crisis, we risk acting too late.” said Fraenkel. “By strengthening governance, monitoring, legislation and community engagement upstream, we can reduce pressure on these remarkable animals and put them on the path to lasting recovery.”

Building on a landmark baseline

The 2024 State of the World’s Migratory Species report marked the first comprehensive global assessment of migratory animals, covering the 1,189 species listed at that time in CMS Appendices I and II and its analysis linked to over 3,000 additional migratory species.

It found that:

• 70 CMS-listed species had become more endangered over the previous three decades, compared to just 14 that improved in status.
• Migratory fish populations had declined by 90% on average since the 1970s and 97% of CMS-listed migratory fish species face extinction.
• More than half of Key Biodiversity Areas important for CMS-listed species lacked protected status.

The interim report update ensures that governments at CMS COP15 have the most current scientific picture before them.

“We have a baseline. We have better tools. And we have growing public awareness,” Fraenkel said. “The question before governments at COP15 is straightforward: will we match this knowledge with the political will and investment needed to secure the future of the world’s migratory species?”

Other key reports being presented at COP15 include:

• Impacts of Deep-Sea Mining on Migratory Species: Review and Knowledge Gaps.

The study offers a thorough assessment of how deep-sea mining (1,000–6,000 meters) may impact key ocean species. Its findings reveal that sediment plumes and wastewater from mining can disrupt animal navigation, feeding, and prey availability, as well as introduce metal-contaminated particles into food webs. Other risks include habitat damage, more ship strikes, and persistent noise in sensitive marine environments.

Almost half of marine mammals covered by the Convention would be impacted. Other affected groups include sharks and rays, marine reptiles, seabirds and bony fish.

Global Assessment of Migratory Freshwater Fishes

Some of the longest, most important migrations of species on Earth are happening beneath the surface of the world’s rivers, and face significant threats from overuse, fragmentation, and pollution. This report identifies 325 new candidate species that could benefit from being added to CMS Appendices.