(Bloomberg) — Swiss businesses have benefited from being able to easily tap foreign workers, according to a government report published amid political fighting over immigration and free movement of people from the European Union.

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A record number of people — a net 142,300 — immigrated to Switzerland last year, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs said Monday. The economy “depends heavily” on workers from abroad, it said, not only for skilled jobs in health, technology and science, but also for hospitality, construction and manufacturing.

The report comes as Switzerland tries to negotiate a new economic deal with the EU to replace an array of partially outdated agreements. While there are many points of contention, immigration is among the most controversial. The right-wing Swiss People’s Party — the largest in parliament — is campaigning against Switzerland giving up any of its power to control immigration, at times in lockstep with unions which fear that immigrants might erode high local wages.

Talks started in March after the government dropped out of an earlier attempt at a deal. It’s unclear when an agreement will be reached, and any accord will probably have to go to a national vote.

According to SECO’s analysis, the influx of mostly highly skilled people from the EU in recent decades helped companies to fill positions and boosted overall productivity growth. On top of regular immigration, almost 400,000 cross-border workers commuted into Switzerland from neighboring France, Italy and Germany last year — a quarter of those alone in Geneva.

SECO’s report acknowledged the controversy around immigration, noting the tensions that have erupted elsewhere without being specific. Immigration has played a large part in the election campaigns in countries including the UK, Germany and France, where nationalist parties have gained ground. In Switzerland, the People’s Party wants a cap on the population, which would also shut out high-earning foreigners.

“It is clear that a sustained high level of migration is also associated with challenges,” SECO said. “This is evidenced by the intense and controversial discussions in other major net immigration countries on the question of the cost-benefit balance of immigration for society as a whole.”

In addition to workers, last year’s immigration into Switzerland was boosted by refugees from Ukraine, which accounted for a third of the total.

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