Press release

Social Assistance Statistics 2010 Social assistance rate remains unchanged at 3.0% - divergent trends in the cantons

Neuchâtel, 20.12.2011 (FSO) - In 2010, 231,046 people received social assistance benefits in Switzerland, corresponding to a percentage of persons receiving social assistance of 3.0%. At national level the social assistance rate remained at the same level as the previous year. But data from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) indicates that trends differed from canton to canton as well as among the different categories of commune size. As in the previous year, in 2010 fewer social assistance cases could be closed by an improvement in the employment situation.