Postdoctoral Researcher / Scientific Collaborator: Social Production Satellite Account for Switzerland 80 - 100 %
Start of employment upon agreement, temporaryThe UZH Healthy Longevity Center at the UZH Psychology Department supports impact-oriented lifespan research. Our newest research group studies social production across the lifespan. It 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. Its measurement gives governments a macro signal for the challenges of this era, allowing a non-market productive capacity (that performs a load-bearing function within formal systems) to be tracked, evaluated, and protected from depletion as nations manage ageing populations, fiscal pressure, and the sustainability of health and care systems.
The method has been demonstrated through research-based proof-of-concept studies in Australia, the United States, and Norway, but no statistical office has yet brought it into the national accounts as a satellite account. This position would lead the work to establish a pilot Social Production Satellite Account for Switzerland, the first of its kind, aligned with FSO national accounting conventions and built on data the office already holds. It is a defined, high-visibility programme that would establish Swiss leadership in the field and a model for other national statistical offices.
The role combines two functions. As a researcher, the postholder develops and aligns the method and produces analysis for publication. As an implementer embedded in the National Accounts Section, they build the account into a working statistical product consistent with Swiss national accounting (ESA 2010) and the international System of National Accounts (SNA). The post is jointly hosted by the FSO National Accounts Section and the UZH Centre for Healthy Longevity and is connected to a research team at the University of Sydney. The underlying method was developed by the University of Sydney's Mental Wealth Initiative with input from a broad range of international institutional and multilateral collaborators and has been peer reviewed and published.
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.
- 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.
Your profile
- A doctorate in economics, applied statistics, or a quantitative social science or data science.
- Familiarity with national accounts concepts and conventions (ESA 2010), ideally including satellite accounting.
- Demonstrated skills in handling survey and time-use microdata.
- A strong command of time-series and index methods, including constant-price adjustment.
- A translational research orientation, comfortable working across an academic research team and a national statistical office and communicating with policy audiences.
- Working proficiency in German or French, together with English.
- Experience with time-use surveys or unpaid-work modules in labour force surveys.
- A systems-oriented perspective on demographic change, the care economy, fiscal sustainability, and the intersection of market and non-market production.
- Experience working in or with a statistical office or national accounts setting.
- A record of peer-reviewed publication and technical reporting.
- The opportunity to build the first social production satellite account established within a national statistical office, an innovation in national accounting with international reach.
- A role embedded in official statistics while contributing to frontier research, with training in the social production accounting method from the University of Sydney's Mental Wealth Initiative.
- Support through co-supervision across the three partners and connection to an international research and policy network spanning ageing, health, and economic measurement.
- Employment on University of Zurich terms, with salary set according to UZH and Canton of Zurich guidelines for postdoctoral researchers.
- A clearly defined three-year horizon to deliver a programme of work with direct policy relevance.
The position is employed by the University of Zurich Healthy Longevity Centre. 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. A clear separation is maintained between FSO-hosted research and official statistics, and no output carries the FSO's name without its approval. The underlying method is published and open.
Information on your application
Applications as one PDF file should be submitted no later than August 21, 2026 in English. Please additionally submit a CV, a list of your publications, a letter of motivation outlining your suitability for the role, your PhD transcript, and the names and contact details of two referees.What we offer
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Susan Mérillat HLC Research Group LeaderThe University of Zurich, Switzerland's largest university, offers a range of attractive positions in various subject areas and professional fields. With around 10,000 employees and currently 12 professional apprenticeship streams the University offers an inspiring working environment on cutting-edge research and top-class education. Put your talent and skills to work with us. Find out more about UZH as an employer!
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