The Swiss Labour Force Survey (SLFS) - conducted by the Federal Statistical Office in cooperation with an external service provider - is a household survey that has been conducted since 1991.
The interviews from the third and fourth quarters of 2009 serve as a transition from the old to the new (continuous) SLFS.
Since 2003, the SLFS has also been supplemented with foreign nationals in the permanent resident population selected from the Central Migration Information System (CEMIS).
The respondents are interviewed four times over a period of one and a half years.
The survey collects data on employment (present and past), reasons for economic inactivity (retirement, education, etc.