Labour Geography
Our research group is interested in better understanding patterns of socio-spatial inequality in labour, migration and gender.
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Additional Information
News
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Underemployed but overworked: reframing the paradox of underemployment through the lens of racial capitalism
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.
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Involuntary part-time work
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.
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Failure to recognise the private home as a workplace
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.
Upcoming events
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16.9.2026, 14:00: Nursing the organisation, not the resident? A critical perspective on the labour process in Swiss nursing homes
Jason Schneck, Department of Geography; Ort: Y34, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zürich; Raum: J-02/04
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28.9.2026, 14:00: Care Platforms as Ambivalent Responses to the Crisis of Care Platform Narratives and Workers’ Experiences
Christiane Meyer-Habighorst, Department of Geography; Ort: Y34, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zürich; Raum: J-02/04