News

Underemployed but overworked: reframing the paradox of underemployment through the lens of racial capitalism

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 22:00:00 GMT

Based on in-person interviews with underemployed workers in the commercial cleaning sector in Zurich, Reta Barfuss and Karin Schwiter, in this new article, reframe the phenomenon of time-related underemployment through the lens of racial capitalism. This lens enables an understanding of underemployment not merely as an effect of neoliberalisation, but as a consequence of othering processes intrinsic to capitalism that render specific communities exploitable.

Involuntary part-time work

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 22:00:00 GMT

Thousands of people in Switzerland work part-time against their will, often because they are denied the opportunity to work longer hours. For those affected, this can lead to financial insecurity and increased psychological stress, as Karin Schwiter and Reta Barfuss explain in the online publication Social Security by the Federal Social Insurance Office.

Failure to recognise the private home as a workplace

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 23:00:00 GMT

In December 2025, the Swiss federal council renewed its decision that live-in domestic workers are not granted the protection of labour law. In this short text published in CareInfo, Sarah Schilliger and Karin Schwiter comment on this decision from their perpective as care researchers.

The unequal distribution of part-time work in Switzerland

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 23:00:00 GMT

In this interview with the Luzerner Zeitung newspaper Karin Schwiter comments on the unequal distribution of working hours in Switzerland.

Summer Retreat for Labour Theory and Research

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 23:00:00 GMT

From 20 to 24 July 2026, we’re hosting a Summer Retreat for Labour Theory and Research in Morschach. Please do join us for a week of intense discussions and enjoying the mountains.

Heavy workloads and long working days in the cleaning industry

Sun, 04 Jan 2026 23:00:00 GMT

In this interview with the DIZH Public Data Lab, Reta Barfuss introduces her research project on underemployment: when you don't earn enough despite having several jobs and long working days!

On precarious work and invisible people

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 22:00:00 GMT

In this interview with the DIZH Public Data Lab, Merlin Hebecker tells about his journey from Bonn to Bogotá, São Paulo and Zurich, and his doctoral thesis on precarious work.

Making the invisible visible

Thu, 28 Aug 2025 22:00:00 GMT

Karin Schwiter's interview with the DIZH Public Data Lab explains the data gaps in statistics on employment situations and why her work in this project highlights these gaps.

The Downside of Part-Time Work

Wed, 18 Jun 2025 22:00:00 GMT

UZH labor geographer Karin Schwiter has been awarded one of the coveted ERC Advanced Grants from the European Research Council. Over the next five years, she plans to study the problem of underemployment in Switzerland, the UK and the Netherlands.

Geography of suffering – body maps express what words cannot

Mon, 25 Nov 2024 23:00:00 GMT

There are still no effective treatments for Long Covid. Health geographer Maaret Jokela-Pansini has developed an innovative tool together with patients and shows how social sciences can deepen our understanding of the disease.

Conceptualizing labor agency through resilience: Practices of reassembling work on domestic services platforms

Thu, 31 Oct 2024 23:00:00 GMT

This article, written by Khaula Ettarfi, explores workers’ experiences in the gig domestic cleaning sector in Geneva, focusing on their resilience in the face of temporary and flexible work conditions. Through stories collected from workers, the article illustrates how they demonstrate resilience, emphasizing the relationships and environments that shape their experiences in a precarious labor market.It further reviews various perspectives of workers encountering platform-mediated labor at different moments of their working trajectories.

What makes working for taxi apps and online delivery services problematic

Sun, 10 Nov 2024 23:00:00 GMT

Karin Schwiter is one of the experts who, as part of the Digital Society Initiative (DSI) at the University of Zurich, focus on topics related to digital transformation and its impact on society. The DSI Spotlights are short videos that highlight different aspects of digitalization.

UZH Magazin: Mehr Pflichten für Uber & Co.

Tue, 24 Sep 2024 22:00:00 GMT

Interview mit Karin Schwiter in der aktuellen Ausgabe des UZH Magazin "Mit Köpfchen und KI" zum Thema digitale Plattformen.

DSI Podcast: Die Zukunft der Arbeit: Wie funktionieren Plattformen?

Tue, 24 Sep 2024 22:00:00 GMT

Die erste Folge des DSI Podcast "Genial Digital?" widmet sich Plattformen, die Arbeit digital vermitteln. Die Arbeitsgeografinnen Karin Schwiter und Marisol Keller geben Podcast-Host Milena Ragaz Auskunft.

Call for contributions for the conference: Work and Social Justice: Challenges and Opportunities in the Digital Age

Tue, 12 Mar 2024 23:00:00 GMT

The Swiss Labour Research Network LABORIS and the community WORK of the Digital Society Initiative DSI invite you to submit a contribution for their conference on Work and Social Justice in the Digital Age on 13 December 2024 at the University of Zurich. Deadline for submissions is 13 September 2024.

Screening of “The Invisible – Modern Slavery in Europe” (2023) with Nora Komposch

Tue, 12 Mar 2024 23:00:00 GMT

On March 25, 2024, the Feminist Geographies group of the ASG invites you to a documentary film screening, which begins with a guided tour of the Feminist Strike House and is followed by an open discussion and an apéro.

DSI work community movie night

Tue, 13 Feb 2024 23:00:00 GMT

On February 21, 2024 the DSI Community Work invites you to the screening of the film documentary "The Driven Ones" directed by Piet Baumgartner.

We live in a time crisis

Thu, 24 Aug 2023 22:00:00 GMT

How much time can we devote to our work? How much time for unpaid work in the family and society, for oneself and the social environment? Labour geographer Karin Schwiter took part in a public panel discussion on the four-day week organised by the Polit Forum Bern: "Many people lack time for unpaid work, especially care work, in addition to gainful employment".

Videopodcast "Pflege grenzenlos"

Wed, 28 Sep 2022 22:00:00 GMT

Karin Schwiter (Universität Zürich) und Sarah Schilliger (Universität Bern) im Gespräch mit Ruth Gurny von DENKNETZ zum Thema "Pflege grenzenlos"

Urban Platform Economies

Mon, 09 May 2022 07:16:32 GMT

Sybille Bauriedl, Anke Strüver and Karin Schwiter have been awarded a trinational research grant by the German, the Austrian and the Swiss National Research Foundations for their project "Urban Platform Economies: Transformations of labour and intersectional inequalities in care services (TICS)“. From 2022 to 2025, they will build on feminist geographies as a theoretical framework to explore how the rise of the digitally mediated care services in the platform economy transform everyday lives and inequalities the cities of Hamburg, Vienna and Zurich

Faire Arbeitsbedingungen in der Gig-Economy

Sun, 23 Jan 2022 23:00:00 GMT

Zürcher Reinigungsarbeiterinnen gründeten Autonomía, die erste selbstverwaltete Plattformkooperative für Reinigungskräfte in der Schweiz. Die Arbeitsgeographinnen Marisol Keller und Karin Schwiter nahmen in Medienbeiträgen dazu Stellung.

Junge Männer in geschlechtsuntypischen Berufen

Wed, 10 Nov 2021 23:00:00 GMT

Marisol Keller hat im neu erschienenen Buch „Zeitdiagnose Männlichkeiten Schweiz“ einen Beitrag mit dem Titel «Du bist ein Mann, du hast schon bessere Chancen.» Wie junge Männer Privilegierung in geschlechtsuntypischen Berufen verhandeln. verfasst. Das Buch bündelt Forschungsbeiträge zu Männlichkeit(en) in der Schweiz.

Handbuch Feministische Geographien

Wed, 19 May 2021 22:00:00 GMT

Karin Schwiter collaborated as an editor and author in this recently published book by the Autor*innenkollektiv Geographie und Geschlecht.

Decent Care without Decent Work?

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 22:00:00 GMT

Karin Schwiter, Jennifer Steiner and their collaboration partners published a book with key findings of their project on live-in care. The book examines how the commodification and formalization of live-in care work is gradually affecting the public understanding of decent work and decent care.

Artikel zu Live-in-Betreuung unter Corona

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 23:00:00 GMT

Karin Schwiter und Anahi Villalba haben in der Zeitschrift «Die Volkswirtschaft» des Schweizer Staatssekretariats für Wirtschaft (SECO) einen Artikel über Live-in-Betreuung unter Corona publiziert.