Our institute
An important issue for Switzerland – as a small, open economy – is the performance of its labour market. This topic has attracted considerable interest in recent years, and researchers at KOF have published numerous studies on this subject.
Consequently, the Swiss Labour Market research division was set up on 1 January 2022 and is headed by Michael Siegenthaler. Working and researching alongside him in this field are a post-doc, two PhD students and a pre-doc.
The work conducted by the Swiss Labour Market research division focuses on analysing factors that affect firms’ demand for workers, on immigration policies, unemployment, and the impact and functioning of digital labour markets. Particular attention is given to the reasons for, and the effects of, labour market discrimination – especially gender-related disparities in employment, pay and education – and discrimination of ethnic minorities.
This research division highlights employment, unemployment and remuneration trends in Switzerland as part of KOF’s economic forecasts. It is also responsible for the KOF Employment Indicator, which – based on the institute’s Business Tendency Surveys – provides an early quarterly assessment of the labour market situation over the coming months.
Mission statement
KOF is a forward-looking research institute that analyses economic developments relevant to Switzerland. It has its finger on the pulse of the economy, addresses issues of economic and socio-political importance, draws on its research expertise to devise and present politically independent solutions, and encourages the exchange of ideas among economists and a broader public. This bridging function is consistent with its national mission of monitoring, analysing and forecasting the Swiss economy.
Good presence of employees in the Swiss public
We continued to follow this mission statement rigorously in 2022. We built bridges between research and society by providing assessment and analysis in our monthly KOF Bulletin, offering events for a non-specialist public and issuing our publications. Given the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis, surging inflation and the shortage of skilled labour, however, our employees were much in demand as commentators in the media. They offered their research expertise in more than 700 newspaper articles, television appearances and radio interviews. This was slightly more media exposure than in the previous year.
Third-party funded projects
Acquiring third-party funding is especially important for research projects. KOF’s basic funding is provided by ETH Zurich and the Swiss Society for Economic Research (SGK). The implementation of large research projects in particular, however, relies on the availability of third-party funding.
The third-party funded projects acquired in 2022 included a project entitled ‘Monitoring Ethnic and Immigrant Discrimination in Hiring Decisions in Times of Crisis’ as part of the ‘On the Move’ projects run by the National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCRs).
This project is being conducted in collaboration with the Immigration Policy Lab at ETH Zurich. A project entitled ‘A New Swiss Firm Survey Panel: Swiss Franc Shocks and Climate Policy’ was supported by ETH’s MTEC Foundation. In addition to these third-party funded projects, KOF produced studies and expert reports for federal institutions such as the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI), which analysed the R&D activities of firms in Switzerland, as well as a feasibility study for the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) in collaboration with the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).
