economic goals. On the contrary, every new foreign company is clearly informed of 
the difficulty of finding employees before it sets up shop in Liechtenstein. The labour 
market has dried up. That is why the state of Liechtenstein has renounced any 
measures to promote the economy which would lead to the foundation of new 
companies. 
This situation is based on the fact that wage and salary earners with the Liechtenstein 
nationality amount to only one third of the total number of employed persons. In 
other words, two thirds of the labour force are foreigners. About half lives in 
Liechtenstein, and the other half - that is a third of total labour - lives in the 
neighbouring countries of Switzerland or Austria and commutes to his or her 
workplace in Liechtenstein every day. 
We must not forget that Liechtenstein has only 32 000 inhabitants. 23 000 jobs are, 
however, available. That still is, of course, a very small figure. And here we come 
across another special characteristic of Liechtenstein’s national economy, it’s 
comprehensive diversification. This is clearly seen when looking at its sectors of 
economic activity. To an outsider, Liechtenstein might well appear to be a rural area 
with mountains, forests and meadows, where cows graze. Actually, agriculture and 
forestry, the primary sector of the economy, only account for 2 % of the total 
workforce. In comparison to other industrial countries in Europe, that is a very small 
percentage. 
On the other hand, industry and the producing sector, the secondary sector of the 
economy, account for almost half of total jobs. That’s a very high percentage for a 
developed economy. In general, there is a trend towards a service economy which 
has increased the tertiary sector's share of jobs to 60 % in Germany and Switzerland 
and to 70 % in the USA. In Liechtenstein, the service economy’s share is just 50 %. 
How largeus Wie puliheseor share anu deohtenstent 
The public sector share in gross national product is, by the way, relatively small. No 
exact statistics are available - for that would increase the public sector share 
considerably - but we can assume that it amounts to approximately 25 %. The state of 
Liechtenstein does not live off the sale of stamps or earnings perhaps from the tourist 
industry. It mainly lives off tax receipts from financial services. 
[t might interest you to know that interest earnings from public assets account for 8 
% of total receipts. Interest paid actually is, however, not registered. In other words, 
the state of Liechtenstein acquires a surplus which it invests to produce income. The 
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3ER ENGL