Job fears give Swiss sleepless nights

Their biggest fear: a trip to the dole office Keystone

More than two-thirds of Swiss are worried about losing their jobs, while many more believe the country’s political system needs a drastic overhaul.

A Credit Suisse study also found that while concern over health care and pensions had eased, people were increasingly worried about personal safety and the refugee situation.

Pessimism about the jobs market has been more or less constant over the past two years.

The “worry barometer”, published annually by Switzerland’s second-largest bank, showed that 69 per cent of respondents deemed it a pressing concern. Last year the figure stood at 67 per cent.

The study said increased media coverage of the unemployment situation over the past year had pushed this topic to the top of the agenda for a large part of the population.

Coming in at number four in the list of worries this year was the refugee situation in Switzerland. Forty-five cent of interviewees cited this as cause for concern.

This represented the biggest increase of all categories – a rise of nine per cent on the previous year.

Foreigner fears

Anxiety about foreigners also rose, with an increase of six percentage points.

Researchers suggested that this development was likely to be temporary and linked to the two votes on naturalisation, which took place earlier this year.

For the first time, the survey asked participants about Swiss identity and the biggest threats to this identity.

Almost three-quarters of respondents said they were proud of their country, although 62 per cent said they felt the country’s political system needed reforming.

A third saw Switzerland as a haven of peace and security, but only one in five highlighted the country’s system of direct democracy.

Switzerland’s traditional neutrality ranked even lower, with only 19 per cent associating it with being Swiss.

swissinfo

Key facts

Credit Suisse’s “worry barometer” has appeared annually since 1976.
It is published in the group’s “Bulletin” magazine.
The survey was conducted in September 2004, and 1,000 people took part.

In brief

The top ten worries are:

Unemployment 69%
Health care 56%
Pensions 49%
Refugees 45%
Federal government finances 26%
Foreigners 24%
Personal safety 23%
Poverty/social security 22%
Economic development 19%