Enquiries, Sources – Swiss Labour Force Survey (SLFS)Frequently Asked Questions about the Swiss Labour Force Survey (SLFS)

What is this survey for?
The Swiss Labour Force Survey (SLFS) is a cornerstone of the Swiss statistical system. Is provides indispensable indicators (which will be published on a quarterly basis) on the evolution of employment and unemployment. The SLFS makes it possible to collect data on working conditions (working times, night work, on-call work), the consequences of the free movement of persons (cf. 5th report of the Observatory on the Free Movement of Persons), and to measure the working poor rate. A large proportion of these indicators is internationally comparable and therefore enables Switzerland to position itself in the European context.

Why has this survey become compulsory?
The survey was made compulsory to meet two main goals:
1) From now on, we will have to furnish the indicators on a quarterly basis. They must be highly reliable, which requires the highest response rate possible.
2) The SLSF must be conducted as cost effectively as possible. Persons who refuse to participate in the survey must be replaced. The samples have to be broadened because of respondents' refusals, which results in additional costs for the Confederation.

As of when will the survey be compulsory?
The legal requirement to respond to the SLFS will be applied from October 2009.

How was the obligation to respond introduced?
In 2006, the FSO decided to conduct a pilot survey to test the degree to which the introduction of an obligation to respond would improve the quality of the survey. An amendment of the Ordinance on the Conduct of Federal Statistical Surveys in 2007 authorised the FSO to undertake this pilot survey, which was carried out in June and September 2008. Because the results of the pilot survey were persuasive, the FSO decided to introduce the obligation to respond as of the 4th quarter of 2009.

What are the legal basis of the obligation to respond?
The obligation to respond is based on the Federal Statistics Act and the Ordinance on the Conduct of Federal Statistical Surveys. Prior to being interviewed, respondents to the SLFS receive a letter informing them about the aims of the survey, the fact that it is compulsory and its legal basis. If a person refuses to respond despite a written reminder, the law stipulates that a fine may be imposed.

Is the protection of data guaranteed?
The protection of data is guaranteed. Once the survey is concluded, the survey institute supplies the data to the FSO and is then contractually required to destroy them. The data are published by the FSO after having been anonymised (the identifiers do not contain any data).

How does a person selected to respond know that it is for a FSO survey?
Prior to being interviewed, each household selected to participate in the SLFS receives a letter from the FSO. This letter explains the contents of the survey and how it will be conducted and states that it is compulsory. At the beginning of the interview, the LINK institute introduces itself and provides information about the survey which matches what was explained in the letter. Persons who doubt that they are actually part of the sample can phone the SLFS hotline (the number is included in the letter). The FSO includes a code for each household in the letter; if respondents have doubts about the identity of the person calling them (is it really a LINK employee working for the SLFS?), they can verify the identity by asking the interviewer to say the code.

Why doesn't the FSO conduct the interviews itself?
The volume of the information collected varies greatly from year to year and month to month. Private survey institutes are in a better position to distribute the workload because they also conduct numerous other surveys.

The selection of a survey institute is done by means of a public tendering procedure, and the institutes are evaluated according to very strict criteria. Every aspect of the collaboration between the institute and the FSO is defined in a detailed contract. The institute must meet high professional, economic and technical requirements. Considerable emphasis is placed on training the institute's staff and monitoring their work on a continuous basis. In addition, the FSO provides intensive assistance for and monitoring of the execution of the survey contract.

What is the burden on respondents?
The FSO is well aware of the burden borne by the persons selected to take part in the survey. We make every effort to reduce the burden to the minimum without compromising our information mandate. Whenever possible, the FSO relies on data contained in administrative registers (e.g. the new register-based federal population census) and guarantees the rotation of persons selected for telephone surveys. But certain essential information that is not contained in the registers has to be collected by means of specific surveys.

From now on, a person selected for the SLFS will participate 4 times over a period of 15 months. The first interview takes approximately 20 minutes and the 3 subsequent interviews approximately 10 minutes.

In total, approximately 125,000 interviews will be conducted every year.

Will all FSO surveys be compulsory from now on?
No, the SLFS is the only household telephone survey that is compulsory. But the obligation to respond is not new: a legal obligation to respond already exists for the written questionnaire of the Federal Population Census and for certain surveys of businesses.

What kinds of questions are posed?
The questions mainly concern the labour market situation (employment, unemployment, retirement, working conditions, occupation, salary), education and training (including continuous education), household composition and demographic characteristics (nationality, marital status, etc.). There are also questions about household work, the general state of health and the household income. In addition to the basic questionnaire, the SLFS is complemented every year by a different thematic module (topics covered so far: social security, migration, unpaid work, continuous education and training).

What happens if a person is, for example, on holiday or is prevented for health reasons from taking part in the survey?
The obligation to respond should not result in the punishment of persons selected for the survey who turn out to be unable to respond for certain well founded reasons, such as a prolonged absence or a health problem. The obligation to respond is intended to maximise the response rate and consequently the quality of the obtained indicators. It is, therefore, applied in a pragmatic way.

Is it possible to call a free-phone (toll-free) number?
As of October 2009, a free hotline providing information about the survey will be made available by the FSO. It is currently not possible to call LINK directly. But it is possible to set a subsequent date for the interview during the first telephone contact with LINK or via the FSO hotline.

How does the Federal Statistical Office obtain the addresses and telephone numbers?
Pursuant to Art. 10, Para 3c of the Federal Statistics Act, all public telephone service providers active in the Swiss market are obliged to furnish to the Federal Statistical Office data about their customers which are necessary to conduct sample surveys. Consequently, the scope of the sample currently used by the FSO comprises all fixed-line telephone numbers in Switzerland, regardless of whether they are listed in a telephone directory. The Act stipulates that these may only be used for federal statistical surveys. Their use by private parties is excluded.

How high can the fines be? What is the FSO practice on the imposition of fines? Are such fines new?
Pursuant to the Federal Statistics Act (FSA Art. 22; SR 431.01), the FSO may impose a fine on any person who "does not or does not properly fulfil the duty to disclose information despite receiving a reminder". The principle of proportionality will be applied. Nevertheless, the FSO does not aim to impose fines; it counts, rather, on the collaboration of the persons it selects to provide information for a survey that is important both nationally and internationally. In recent years, the FSO has been exceedingly restrained in imposing fines, a practice that is not about to change. Article 22 Federal Statistics Act has been in effect since 9 October 1992.

Telemarketing and FSO surveys
The Federal Statistical Office is aware that the growing number of opinion polls, telemarketing campaigns and other commercial telephone surveys cause annoyance and mistrust in the population. That is why the FSO sends each household it selects to participate in the SLFS an official letter explaining that it is a survey conducted by the Confederation.

What happens when false answers are given?
The law obliges respondents to provide truthful answers. Any respondent who demonstrably provides false answers is liable to prosecution and a fine.