Federal Office for Statistics, Census Division, Espace de l’Europe 10, CH-2010, Neuchâtel.
1950, 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990 and 2000. The following description refers to the 2000 census (RFP2000), conducted on 5 December.
a) Geographical scope: The whole country.
b) Persons covered: All persons – Swiss nationals and foreigners – domiciled in a Swiss commune on 5 December 2000.
The day of reference is 5 December 2000, namely people’s situation on that date.
a) Total population, by sex and age: Yes
Economically active population by:
b) Sex and age group: Yes
c) Industry and by sex: Yes
d) Occupation and by sex: Yes
e) Status in employment and by sex: Yes
f) Highest educational level: Yes
g) Hours of work: Yes
h) Other characteristics: Yes
Ref. a): Age is defined in terms of complete date of birth (day, month, year).
Ref. g): For all persons with a job, average number of hours worked per week.
Ref. h): Economically active employed persons and apprentices were asked the following questions related to commuting: “How long does it usually take you to travel to work or school (namely, from door to door)?”; “How many times do you usually make the return trip between your home and workplace or school?” (per day, plus number of times a week)”; “What means of transport do you usually use to travel between your home and workplace or school?”. Respondents were also asked how many hours on average were spent per person (and per week) on family work and domestic tasks, as well as on voluntary work.
a) Economically active population: In RFP2000, all persons aged 15 years and over who, on 5 December 2000, were either employed or unemployed, according to the definitions given below, were considered to be part of the economically active population. Persons on sick leave, paid maternity leave or engaged in military service were classified according to their usual activity.
b) Employment: Employed economically active persons were defined as persons who spent at least one hour a week in gainful productive employment. Apprentices were considered to be employed economically active persons. In the category of employed persons a distinction was made between those with a full-time and part-time job. With regard to the latter, a distinction was made between people who had one job and those with several jobs. The processing of data on full-time and part-time employment was based exclusively on the statements made by respondents. No hours of work threshold was established to distinguish between full-time and part-time employment.
In summary, persons with a full-time job, a part-time job or more than one part-time job were considered to be employed. Schoolchildren and students in education as well as persons of independent means and retirees were excluded from the definition.
c) Unemployment: Economically active persons who, on the date of the census, were unemployed, were not employed but seeking work, or who had confirmation of an appointment or a contract for future employment were considered to be unemployed.
Only persons who had a job were classified by industry, occupation and status in employment.
a) Industry: A specific question was asked about the workplace and its full address was requested. The name of the enterprise was used to determine the industry by using the central register of enterprises and establishments (REE) of the Federal Office for Statistics. The classes from the 1995 General Classification of Economic Activities were used to code industry data. There is a key linking the Swiss General Classification of Economic Activities to ISIC Revision 2 at the division (two-digit) level.
b) Occupation: In reply to the question “What is your current occupation?” respondents were requested to identify as precisely as possible their main occupational activity (for example, by indicating “clerk of the court” instead of “law graduate” or “artist” instead of “painter”, and so on). Only one reply was possible. To code occupation data, 380 groups at the five-digit level from the national classification were used. There are links to ISCO-88 (COM).
c) Status in employment: Based on the question: “What is your current status in employment?” The following groups were used to code data on this variable: self-employed without employees (trader, entrepreneur, professional); self-employed with employees (trader, entrepreneur, professional); contributing family worker; employed as: apprentice with an apprenticeship contract – employee in own company – director, manager – senior manager – middle-level or junior manager, for example, head of an office, branch or unit, and so on – employee, blue-collar worker, trainee; other, namely:…
d) Level of education: Le The 2000 census differentiated between completed and current education. All levels of completed education had to be indicated. Only one reply could be given for current education.
The following levels were established: none (persons with no schooling and pre-school children); compulsory education (primary school, secondary school, middle school, pre-baccalaureate school, special classes); general culture school (two years); school of administration and transport; preparatory courses for paramedical occupations (one or two years), preparatory school or courses for vocational training, basic vocational training (with a training contract); apprenticeship (federal certificate of competence or equivalent) or full-time vocational school (for example, business school, industrial school); high school, preparatory school for baccalaureate or vocational diploma examinations, diploma-level school (three years), teacher training school (for example, kindergarten or primary school), music teachers, physical education teachers; advanced vocational training (federal certificate, diploma, and so on); advanced vocational college (for example, social studies institutes) for a minimum duration of three years for full-time education (including post-graduate diplomas); university of applied sciences (including post-graduate diplomas); university, university institutes (including post-graduate diplomas).
Questions were asked about changes in civil status, nationality and number of children. A question was also asked about the average number of hours spent on family work and domestic tasks and on voluntary work.
The organization responsible for publishing the final results of the census is the Federal Office for Statistics, Census Division, Espace de l’Europe 10, CH-2010, Neuchâtel.
The main results were published in tables, graphs and charts. They also led to ad hoc publications and are the subject of a scientific analysis programme. Some of these results can be consulted on the Internet (www.recensement.ch). It is also possible to contact the census information centre (tel.: 00 41 32 713 61 11; email: info.census@bfs.admin.ch).