Before the 1982 law on occupational provision (berufliche Vorsorgegesetz, BVG), federal pension surveys (Pensionskassenstatistik) were undertaken for the years 1941–1942, 1955, 1966, 1970, and 1978. The 1941–1942 survey also contained retrospective information reaching back to 1911, while two surveys published in 1929 by the Federal Social Insurance Office and the Employers' Federation (Arbeitgeberverband) offered an overview of public- and private-sector pension plans existing in 1925. The annual reports of the Federal Private Insurance Office also gave basic information on group contracts since the early 1930s. Yet, the changing scope of the surveys – in particular the gradual elimination of informal savings and relief schemes from postwar pension surveys (see below) – hindered comparisons. Even after the passage of the 1982 BVG, data on the second pillar remained, as statistician Stéphane Rossini noted, “surprisingly poor” in comparison with its financial assets and its spread among workers. At a time when occupational pension plans covered almost 3 million workers and managed CHF 160 billion in assets, only two full-time employees of the Federal Statistical Office were responsible for gathering data. After the 1987 pension survey, pension statistics were first reorganized on a biennial (1992–2002) and then on an annual basis from 2004 onward. As this book was going to press, a wealth of additional data on the current situation of pension plans was finally made available on the website of the Federal Statistical Office.

This appendix offers a century-long overview of data on second-pillar institutions, with specific focus on the pre-BVG period.