Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1990, published 77th ILC session (1990)

Labour Statistics Convention, 1985 (No. 160) - Switzerland (Ratification: 1987)

The Committee has taken note of the first report from the Government and asks it to supply additional information on the following points:

Article 2 of the Convention. Please specify for each Article of Part II of the Convention - the obligations which are binding on Switzerland - whether, when designing or revising the concepts, definitions and methodology used for the collection, compilation and publication of statistics, the latest standards and guide-lines established under the auspices of the ILO have been taken into consideration. In the event of departure from these guide-lines, please supply the reasons.

Article 7. (a) The Government indicates that the statistics currently compiled on the economically active population cover all employed persons, with the exception of homeworkers, but that a survey on the economically active population will be conducted annually from May 1991 on. The Committee takes note of this statement. It hopes that this survey will be conducted on the basis of the standards and guide-lines established under the auspices of the ILO, that it will cover the total economically active population and that the results will be regularly communicated to the ILO.

(b) The Committee notes, furthermore, that the statistics on unemployment cover the jobseekers referred to in the 1982 Federal Law on Unemployment Insurance, who have registered with the appropriate employment exchanges. It also notes that these statistics are to be revised with a view to obtaining information on visible underemployment to which the Convention refers. The Committee asks the Government to communicate the results of this revision in the near future.

Article 8 (in connection with Article 6(c)). Please indicate whether a description of the methodology used for the collection and compilation of statistics on the structure and distribution of the economically active population has also been published by the competent national body and, if so, please communicate a copy of this publication or indicate the references thereof.

Articles 9, 10 and 13 (in connection with Article 17). The Committee notes that the Government has limited the scope of the statistics on average wages and hours of work (hours actually worked), on wage structure and distribution and on household (or family) expenditure and income, excluding certain categories of wage-earners or of persons, as the case may be. The Committee notes, however, that, according to the report, the Federal Department of Industry, Arts and Trades and Employment (OFIAMT), which is the authority entrusted with the compilation of statistics, is currently working on a programme with a view to designing a system of statistics on wages and working conditions in which the elements prescribed in Articles 9 and 10 of the Convention will be taken into consideration. With regard to household expenditure and income (Article 13), the Government indicates that a representative consumer survey, which is to be conducted as part of the revision programme referred to above, will also make it possible to collect data on other categories of household expenditure; this survey will cover the total resident population. The Committee asks the Government to communicate the statistical data established as a result of this inquiry as well as the method used for collecting and compiling them.

Article 14. Please (a) indicate whether the statistics on occupational injuries communicated with the report (statistics on accidents LAA) represent the country as a whole and whether they cover all branches of economic activity, and (b) specify the concepts and the methodology used for their collection and compilation.

Article 16, paragraph 4. The Committee notes that Switzerland has not accepted the obligations deriving from Article 11 concerning statistics of labour cost. The Committee hopes that the programme to review economic statistics (mentioned by the Government in its report), which is due to be implemented in the near future, will also be able to cover this field, and it asks the Government to supply information on the extent to which effect is given, or to which it is proposed to give effect, to the above provision, as requested in Article 16, paragraph 4, of the Convention.