Normal hours of work in enterprises.
The reference population corresponds to the "interior concept" of the labour market: persons exercising an activity in a unit of production established in the territory of Switzerland, whether domiciled in Switzerland or abroad (e.g. cross-border workers).
Part-time employees, those affected by reductions in hours of work and middle and senior management are not in principle covered by the statistics.
Data are collected separately for full-time and part-time workers, apprentices and by sex.
In the statistics on wage trends, the main variables for the selection of data are: level of qualifications, hours of work (full-time employees), age (men: 19-65 years; women: 19-63 years) and the area of activity.
The OFS extrapolates the results.
Normal hours of work, at section level, economic sector or overall, are calculated using a weighted model, based on the Federal census of enterprises of 1995 and 1998. Each economic division in each canton receives a weighting coefficient. This process allows aggregate values to be calculated in the light of the employment patterns peculiar to each canton and region.
The following data are used to calculate the current weightings for wage statistics: full-time jobs derived from the 1991 census of enterprises; the number of active full-time employees taken from the 1990 population census; production personnel from the October 1991 survey of wages and earnings; and SSAA data for 1991 on employees broken down by type of accident.
Accident statements from certain groups of employees are not proportional in number to the size of these groups on the survey population (e.g. construction and civil engineering). Groups of workers are therefore weighted to avoid distortions in the presentation of the macro-economic trends in wages.
Annual nominal and real indices of wage trends.
The average hours of work are the average of all weeks in a calendar year.
The annual wage indices are calculated from accident statements which cover the whole year.
In order to solve the problem of the influence of variations in hours of work on hourly wages, the hourly wage is linked to the individual weekly hours of work of each insured employee and converted to monthly earnings.
The trend in real wages is measured by deflating the nominal wages index by the consumer price index.
Wages trends: a weakness of the statistics is that they exclude part-time employees, and middle and senior management (who are covered in the accident statements, but not included in the statistical calculations).
Comparisons are also made with other surveys which provide information on actual hours of work, such as the Federal population census, the Swiss Survey on the economically active population (ESPA), the Survey of wage structure and statistics on collective agreements.
Index of nominal and real wages, by sex and total, by economic division and sector, area of activity and level of qualifications, and variation compared with the previous year; Index of nominal wages, total, by economic classification and variation compared with the previous year.
Index of nominal and real wages and variations as a percentage, by category of workers (blue-collar and white-collar workers, sex, categories).
For the current year: wages trends at the most aggregate level.
Normal weekly hours of work in enterprises and variations compared with the previous year in absolute figures and percentages, by economic classification.
Normal weekly hours of work and variations by canton, region and economic division.
Since 1991, the 1995 edition of the General Nomenclature of Economic Activities (NOGA) has replaced the 1985 edition.
Before 1995, the Federal Office of Industry, Arts and Trades and Labour (OFIAMT) (now the Federal Office of Economic Development and Employment - OFDE) was responsible for processing the data collected on normal hours of work and wages, and publishing the results. Since then, it has been the OFS.
The statistics on wages trends are currently being revised. The aim in particular is to achieve the following objectives: (i) to take account of part-time employees; and (ii) to introduce a quarterly indicator of the economic situation.
Idem: Communiqué de presse: statistique du volume du travail (ibid.); occasional publication;
Idem: Communiqué de presse: Heures de travail en 2000 (Neuchâtel, February 2002);
Idem: La statistique du volume du travail. Bases méthodologiques et définitions (Berne, 1997);
Idem: Indicateurs du marché du travail (annual).
Federal Department of Public Economy: La Vie économique (Berne, monthly);
OFS: La nouvelle statistique de l’évolution des salaires. Conception et résultats 1994 (Berne, 1995);
Idem: Evolution des salaires. Résultats commentés et tableaux (Neuchâtel, annual).
Idem: Communiqué de presse: Indice suisse des salaires 2001 (Neuchâtel, April 2002).
Statistics not included in national publications or the Website may be obtained on request.
Normal weekly hours of work for employees, by branch of economic activity (up to 1993); and in manufacturing industry; Worker's earnings (up to 1983) by branch of economic activity (secondary sector).
The annual survey of wage agreements (Enquête annuelle sur les accords salariaux - EAS) in areas covered by a collective agreement reports on bargaining between the social partners on changes in effective and minimum wages under collective agreements.
The central register of foreigners (Registre central des étrangers - RCE) provides monthly indicators of the number of active foreigners working in the various branches of activity, by sex and type of permit.
The statistics on teachers and health occupations (statistique des enseignants et celle des emplois dans le domaine de la santé) provides information on staff numbers and trends in personnel in the two branches.
The statistics on labour disputes (statistique des conflits collectifs du travail), carried out by the OFDE, lists strikes for economic reasons lasting at least one day. It is based on basic information drawn from the daily press, which leads to the employers and economic associations concerned. The latter must then complete a questionnaire providing information on the following characteristics: type of dispute (strike or lock-out), reason for dispute, number of employees concerned, length of action, working hours lost, economic branch, number of enterprises concerned and how the dispute was settled.
Synthesis statistics (statistiques de synthèse), which combine the primary data (surveys) and secondary data (administrative sources) are also produced, among them:
Statistics on the volume of labour (statistique du volume du travail), prepared by the OFS since 1991. The volume of labour of the permanent resident population is calculated on the basis of empirical data provided by the Swiss Survey on the economically active population, in which normal hours of work, overtime and absences are determined and aggregated by job. The volume of labour of other population groups working in Switzerland is calculated from the results of the employed population statistics (number of employed persons) and the population census (average working hours).
Definition of the volume of labour: actual working hours (= normal time + paid or unpaid overtime – absences). The volume of labour is obtained by adding actual annual working hours for all jobs (self-employed and employees who have worked at least one hour for remuneration during the reference year, and persons who, while not being paid, have worked in the family business during the reference year).
Criteria for breakdown of data on normal hours of work, overtime, absences and volume of labour: sex, origin/type of residence permit, economic section, rate of occupation and activity status.
Publications:
OFS: Communiqué de presse: statistique du volume du travail (Berne, annual);
Idem: La statistique du volume du travail. Bases méthodologiques et définitions (ibid., 1997);
Idem: Indicateurs du marché du travail (Neuchâtel, annual).
Monthly statistics on reductions in hours of work, produced by the Federal Office of Economic Development and Employment (OFDE) provides information on employees (by sex) and enterprises concerned, economic branches, cantons and hours laid-off.
Number of members of the Swiss Trade Union Federation (Union syndicale suisse - USS) and other employees organizations: this is a survey by the USS at 31 December each year of the number of members (persons) of trade unions and employer's associations affiliated to it. The USS publication also gives the membership of other major employees' organizations (Swiss Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (Confédération des syndicats chrétiens de Suisse), Federation of Swiss Employees' Societies (Fédération des sociétés suisses d’employés), Federal Union of Government and State Enterprise Employees (Union fédérative du personnel des administrations et des entreprises publiques) etc.), but excludes small organizations not affiliated to the USS.