General accounts of social security
The National Accounts for Social Security (GRSS) is a synthesis statistic . Compiled with the help of a large number of statistical sources (company accounts of the social insurance funds, statistics of public finances (EFS), Swiss social insurance statistics (SVS), etc.), it provides information on expenditure and its financing in the area of social security. On the expenditure side, the social benefits, on the income side, the social contributions of employers and employees, the head premiums of the compulsory health insurance, the contributions from the public sector and the investment income are in the center of interest.
The GRSS can be compared internationally as it is based on the “European System of Integrated Social Protection Statistics” (ESSPROSS) developed by Eurostat .
Total expenditure on social security rose in 2010 (currently provisional data) in Switzerland to CHF 153 billion (2000: CHF 107 billion). The income in 2010 was CHF 176 billion. The actual core of GRSS are social benefits. They result from total expenditure minus implementation costs and other (administrative) expenditure and amounted to CHF 139 billion in 2010.
Legal basis
The postulate of the Commission for Social Security and Health of the National Council of February 17, 1995 and the Federal Statistics Act Art. 10, Paragraph 2, of October 9, 1992 serve as the legal basis for the overall social security accounts.
Type of survey
In Switzerland, the first attempts to arrive at a general overview of social security finances date back to the 1970s and 1980s. The direct forerunner of today's synthesis statistics is the “Swiss Social Budget”, which P. Gilliand and S. Rossini developed for 1990 and 1993 as part of the National Fund project “Change in Lifestyles and Social Security”. Methodically, this work is based on the ESSPROS valid at the time. In 1995 S. Greppi updated the «Swiss Social Budget». The following year Eurostat issued a new ESSPROS manual. The FSO has adopted the methodological guidelines of this new manual with regard to the comparability of the Swiss GRSS with the total accounts of the EU countries one-to-one. Due to this standardized ESSPROSS methodology, certain areas that are important for social policy in Switzerland must be excluded. For example, tax deductions with a significant socio-political component are excluded from the overall calculation.
Acquisition characteristics
Information on social security finances is processed across Switzerland, broken down by institution (AHV, IV, etc.), expressed in millions of francs. The values and indicators of GRSS are shown exclusively at national level. The calculated social benefits can be divided into the following eight needs or risks (so-called functions): sickness / health care, disability, old age, survivors, family and children, unemployment, housing and social exclusion. They form the actual core of the ESSOSS methodology and enable detailed international comparisons. But also from a national perspective, they show which risks and needs are covered to what extent by welfare state benefits. By far the largest part of the social benefits (44%) relate to the age function. A good quarter (27%) of the expenditure is used in the area of illness / health care. In third place, at 11%, are social benefits for the disability function.
execution
The overall social security accounts are prepared annually by the Federal Statistical Office . The publication of 2012 places a strong focus on the one hand on the different functions and on the other hand on international comparability. This shows, for example, that Switzerland (measured in terms of purchasing power standards) is one of the absolute leaders in the age function. In contrast, comparatively few social benefits are reported for the family / children function. In addition, GRSS differentiates between needs-based and non-needs-based social benefits, with the vast majority of the benefits being non-needs-based social benefits for the old-age function (old-age pensions of the first and second pillars). The time series of the data has existed since 1950. However, the figures for the first four decades are based on estimates that are subject to a certain degree of uncertainty.
The Federal Social Insurance Office publishes the total accounts of the social insurance funds (GRSV). This includes the income and expenditure of the social insurance branches AHV, IV, EL, KV, UV, ALV, EO and FZ. Above all, the GRSV enables analyzes from a national perspective and can answer questions about social security institutions.
Sources and individual references
- ↑ European System of Integrated Social Protection Statistics
- ↑ Overall calculation - indicators - national data and international comparisons ( memento of the original dated November 17, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Federal Statistics Act of October 9, 1992 (BStatG)
- ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO), General Accounts of Social Insurance (GRSV)
