Postdoctoral Researcher / Scientific Collaborator: Social Production Satellite Account for Switzerland — Universität Zürich
- Location
- Zürich
- Contract
- full-time
- Posted
- 72 days ago
Role overview
UZH Healthy Longevity Center
Start of employment by arrangement following selection, temporary
Social production is a macroeconomic indicator that extends the national accounts beyond GDP by placing a monetary value on unpaid socially productive activity that creates genuine social, environmental, and economic value but remains invisible in the current economic frame – including care work, volunteering, civic participation, mentoring, ecological stewardship, and contributions to open knowledge.
- UZH Healthy Longevity Center
- Start of employment by arrangement following selection, temporary
- Your responsibilities
- Aligning the established social production method with European System of Accounts (ESA 2010), adapting how it is applied and reported while preserving the underlying methodology.
- Essential: A degree in economics at undergraduate or postgraduate level.
- Strong quantitative analytical skills and demonstrated ability to analyse and interpret economic, survey or official statistical data.
Main responsibilities
- Your responsibilities
- Aligning the established social production method with European System of Accounts (ESA 2010), adapting how it is applied and reported while preserving the underlying methodology.
- Mapping the social production categories to available SAKE data, assessing coverage, and conducting a gap analysis of categories not yet captured.
- Compiling and analysing the relevant Swiss data sources to produce the pilot account's first estimates.
- Building the account into a working statistical product, documented and reproducible so that it could be updated on a regular cycle by Switzerland and/or other nations wishing to adopt the approach.
- Co-authoring research and policy outputs, including a joint report on social production in Switzerland.
- Preparing a methodological report setting out options to extend category coverage, with recommendations for Switzerland and a generalisable approach that other national statistical offices could follow.
- Applying the resulting social production measures to examine productive contribution across the lifecourse, with particular attention to the contributions of older people and the implications for healthy longevity and measures of demographic dependency.
- Working in person within the National Accounts Division and liaising across FSO units to resolve questions of definition, derivation, and method.
- Maintaining reproducible workflows and documentation consistent with official statistics standards.
Key requirements
- Essential: A degree in economics at undergraduate or postgraduate level.
- Strong quantitative analytical skills and demonstrated ability to analyse and interpret economic, survey or official statistical data.
- An interest in economic and social measurement, including the measurement of non-market production and/or social metrics.
- A translational research orientation, comfortable working across an academic research team and a national statistical office and communicating with policy audiences.
- Strong written communication skills and the ability to produce clear, rigorous analytical and technical reports.
- Fluency in English. Desirable:
- Familiarity with the System of National Accounts (SNA) and/or European System of Accounts (ESA), including experience with or knowledge of satellite accounting.
What the company offers
- Our employees benefit from a wide range of attractive offers.
Application process
- Second, they will apply the resulting measures to examine how productive contribution changes across the lifecourse, including the contribution of older people, providing a new empirical basis for understanding healthy longevity and the economic implications of population ageing.
- A good understanding of macroeconomic measurement and national accounting concepts, with the ability to interpret and apply statistical and accounting conventions.
- An interest in the application of economic and social measurement to healthy longevity, demographic change, the care economy, fiscal sustainability, and the intersection of market and non-market production.
- Experience with time-use surveys or unpaid-work modules in labour force surveys.
- Experience working with survey microdata or other official statistical data.
- Experience with time-series, price or index methods, including constant-price adjustment.
- Experience working in or with a statistical office or national accounts setting.
- Proficiency in statistical software such as R, Stata, Python or equivalent. A record of peer-reviewed publication and technical reporting.
Contacts
- Working time is divided between the FSO National Accounts Division in Neuchâtel, where the day-to-day work sits, and the UZH Centre for Healthy Longevity, with research supervision shared between the partners under a light joint-oversight arrangement.
Additional details
- A degree in economics at undergraduate or postgraduate level.
- Fluency in English.
- Proficiency in statistical software such as R, Stata, Python or equivalent. A record of peer-reviewed publication and technical reporting.
- Working proficiency in German or French.
- A clearly defined three-year horizon to deliver a programme of work with direct policy relevance. Working arrangement and independence:
- The underlying method is published and open.
- Find out more: https://www.uzh.ch/de/explore/work.html.
- Childcare at the kihz foundation of UZH and ETH Learning and Development
- Language Center run jointly with ETH Zurich
- Food and drinks at reduced prices in the UZH cafeterias Lunch-Check-card with UZH contribution
Notes and original content
- Your profile
- Proficiency in statistical software such as R, Stata, Python or equivalent.
- A record of peer-reviewed publication and technical reporting.
- What we offer:
- A clearly defined three-year horizon to deliver a programme of work with direct policy relevance.
- Working arrangement and independence:
- Work-Life Balance
- Childcare at the kihz foundation of UZH and ETH
- Learning and Development
- Food and drinks at reduced prices in the UZH cafeterias
Questions about this listing
What salary does Universität Zürich offer for this role?
Universität Zürich lists CHF 73'500 - 111'500 gross per year for this position in Zürich. This is the salary published in the original listing (or, when the employer omits a figure, a realistic estimate for the role and sector) — the calculator on this site converts it to your actual net take-home once cross-border tax and social contributions are applied.
Is this a full-time role, and what type of contract does Universität Zürich offer?
This listing is a full-time position. The contract type shown here comes directly from the employer's original posting; always confirm exact hours, notice period and probation length with Universität Zürich during the application process, since these details can vary by role even within the same contract category.
Do I need a cross-border work permit for a role in Zürich?
EU/EFTA residents living in the border zone of the country adjoining Canton Zürich can apply for a G permit; the Swiss employer files it with that canton's migration office after the contract is signed. Border-zone rules and processing times vary by neighbouring country and canton, so confirm the specifics with Zürich's cantonal migration office or with HR during the application.
How do I apply for this position at Universität Zürich?
Use the "Apply now" button on this page — it links directly to Universität Zürich's original listing at jobs.uzh.ch, so your application goes straight to the employer's own applicant-tracking system. Frontaliere Ticino does not collect or forward applications itself.
