The long shadow of war

The people who found shelter in the village of Mittelhäusern in Berne (see “Swiss Review” 3/2022) are also trying to reorganise their lives. In the meantime, some of them have been able to leave their host families and move into rented flats.

By now, most refugees have settled well into everyday life in Switzerland, with their children attending school and communication becoming increasingly easy. However, language remains a major hurdle when it comes to finding work. Of the 60,000 Ukrainian refugees in Switzerland, around 33,000 are of working age, but only 10 per cent of them had found a job by the summer. This low percentage is also due to the fact that 80 per cent of the refugees eligible to work are women. Many of them have preschool-aged children who need to be looked after.

The federal government and the energy industry are opting first to appeal to the general public to save energy, e.g. by taking a shower instead of a bath, turning down the heat, drying laundry outdoors, or switching off appliances completely instead of using standby mode. Voluntary measures could reduce energy consumption by 10 to 20 per cent. State-imposed regulations for lowering temperatures in public buildings and switching off street lights are also conceivable. If none of this helps, gas and electricity rationing for industry and households could even be imposed. In the event of a worst-case scenario, the Federal Council is planning reserve power plants that can also be operated with oil instead of gas if necessary.