One Inspection Every 2,092 Years
Switzerland wants to crack down harder on undeclared work: on 19 June 2026, the Federal Council sent a tightening of the law against undeclared work into consultation. Two days earlier, the federal enforcement report showed that inspections of private households have collapsed by 65.5% since 2021: from 693 to 239 per year, for an estimated 500,000 employer households.
A Clino data analysis of the SECO BGSA report 2025 (published on 17 June 2026) shows how inspection activity is moving away from the largest suspected segment of undeclared work, canton by canton and across five years. It updates Clino's March 2026 study “The Inspection Lottery”: one inspection every 1,645 years has become one every 2,092 years.
Summary
On 17 June 2026, SECO published its report on the enforcement of the Federal Act against Undeclared Work (BGSA) in 2025. Across Switzerland, inspection activity is high: 14,450 on-site inspections, 19.8% more than in 2021 and close to the previous year's record. One single area has been moving in the opposite direction for years: “services for private households”. There, inspections fell from 693 (2021) via 408, 304 and 237 to 239 (2025), a decline of 65.5%. The households' share of all undeclared-work inspections shrank from 5.7% to 1.65%.
Two days after the report, on 19 June 2026, the Federal Council opened the consultation on an amendment to this very law, with the stated goal of fighting undeclared work more effectively (deadline: 16 October 2026). The proposed instruments target corporate constructs, so-called Firmenbestatter (serial company undertakers), access to vehicle data, and the transparency register. The household sector does not appear in the announced measures, and it is also missing from the cantons' inspection priorities: 68% of all inspections are concentrated, according to SECO, on five focus sectors, and private households are not among them.
In practice this means: with an estimated 500,000 employer households and 239 inspections, the annual probability of being inspected is 0.048%, statistically one inspection every 2,092 years (March 2026 study, based on the 2023 figures: every 1,645 years). And the finding is not that there would be nothing to find: 36% of all on-site inspections uncovered at least one suspected violation in 2025. At the same time, the legal channel is shrinking too: the number of employers using the simplified declaration procedure has fallen by 11% since 2022, to 65,669.
The collapse: from 693 to 239 inspections in four years
The series is unambiguous and comes entirely from SECO's official enforcement reports: 693 inspections (2021), 408 (2022), 304 (2023), 237 (2024), 239 (2025). The minimal uptick in the final year (+2 inspections) does not change the picture, it merely stabilizes the low.
693 (2021) → 408 → 304 → 237 → 239 (2025): −65.5% in four years. Source: SECO, BGSA report 2025, table 4.3.
The decline is not a general trend in the fight against undeclared work, quite the opposite. Across all sectors, inspection activity rose over the same period from 12,062 to 14,450 on-site inspections (+19.8%). The gap has been widening for four years.
All sectors: 12,062 → 14,450 on-site inspections (+19.8%). Private households: 693 → 239 (−65.5%). Source: SECO, BGSA report 2025, table 4.3, own indexing.
Checks on individuals show the same pattern: in the household sector they fell from 824 (2021) to 322 (2025), a drop of 61%, against a total volume of 44,083 individuals checked. Of every 10,000 checks on individuals in Switzerland, only 73 now involve household employees.
Two days, two messages: the political contrast
17 June 2026: SECO publishes the BGSA report 2025. Inspection priorities according to the management summary: secondary construction trades, hospitality, retail, main construction trades, hairdressing and beauty salons, together 68% of all on-site inspections. The report also notes that the sector figures show “in which sectors the cantonal inspection bodies consider the fight against undeclared work particularly warranted”. For private households, that assessment reads: 1.65% of inspections.
19 June 2026: The Federal Council opens the consultation on the “Amendment of the Federal Act against Undeclared Work” (implementing motion 24.3202 Candinas). It provides for data exchange between inspection bodies and the commercial-register, debt-enforcement and bankruptcy offices, direct access to the vehicle register IVZ, and reports to the transparency register. These are instruments against corporate constructs and for construction-site inspections. For employment in private households, according to the official press release, the bill contains no measure.
The paradox: The household sector is considered one of Switzerland's largest segments of undeclared work: the canton of Geneva estimated in 2021 that around 30% of domestic employees were unregistered, Comparis put it at around 25% in 2018. This very sector is the only major area in which inspection activity has collapsed since 2021, and it is missing both from the cantonal inspection priorities and from the ongoing revision of the law. It does not even appear in the report's official inspection-density statistics: private households are not “establishments” within the meaning of the statistics (BGSA report 2025, footnote 16).
Same work, different address: the sectors compared
The most direct comparison is the cleaning sector: if an employee cleans for a company, her employer belongs to a sector whose inspections have risen by 61% since 2021. If she cleans the same floors directly for a private household, inspections fell by 65.5%. Hairdressing and beauty salons, a classic focus sector, received 1,057 inspections in 2025, 4.4 times more visits than all of Switzerland's private households combined.
| Sector | 2021 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hairdressing and beauty salons | 470 | 1,057 | +125% |
| Hospitality | 1,412 | 2,313 | +64% |
| Cleaning industry (companies) | 236 | 380 | +61% |
| Retail | 1,447 | 1,863 | +29% |
| Total, all sectors | 12,062 | 14,450 | +19.8% |
| Finishing construction trades | 3,102 | 3,304 | +7% |
| Main construction | 1,332 | 1,261 | −5% |
| Private households | 693 | 239 | −65.5% |
Selected sectors. The commercial cleaning industry gets inspected more (+61%), the same work inside a private household 65.5% less. Source: SECO, BGSA report 2025, table 4.3.
The inspection lottery, updated: 2,092 years
In March 2026, Clino calculated on the basis of the BGSA report 2023: 304 inspections for around 500,000 employer households, statistically one inspection every 1,645 years. The new figures sharpen the finding: 239 inspections yield an annual inspection probability of 0.048%, one inspection every 2,092 years. In 2021, that figure still stood at 722 years; it has almost tripled in four years.
500,000 employer households (Homegate survey, cited in the Quitt report) divided by that year’s household inspections: 722 (2021) → 2,092 years (2025). Same method as Clino’s March 2026 study (1,645 years on 2023 data).
The financial risk remains abstract too: in 2025, the cantons collected CHF 574,888 in BGSA fines nationwide, 11% less than the year before, roughly CHF 40 per inspection carried out, across all sectors. The economic analysis of the incentives, including expected fine costs of mere centimes per year, can be found in the Inspection Lottery study from March 2026; the new figures do not change its conclusion, they reinforce it.
Who still inspects at all: the cantons
The report does not break down inspections by canton and sector at the same time; what does become visible is how differently the cantons enforce the law in the first place. Basel-Stadt carried out 648 on-site inspections per 10,000 workplaces in 2025, Ticino 560. At the other end: Zug with 38, Glarus with 91, Lucerne with 92. Between Basel-Stadt and Zug lies a factor of 17.
All sectors. AI/AR and UR/NW/OW are covered by joint control bodies and carry the same value. Source: SECO, BGSA report 2025; STATENT 2023; own calculation.
The direction is inconsistent too. Geneva, the canton with what is probably Switzerland's largest domestic-employee market, reduced its inspections from 716 (2021) to 433 (2025), minus 40%. Graubünden nearly halved its inspections (−47%), Lucerne cut a third (−33%). At the same time, St. Gallen quadrupled its inspections (+294%) and Bern added 42%. Behind these figures are minimal resources: across Switzerland, the federal government co-finances 82.19 full-time inspector positions in total, Zug employs 0.4, Glarus 0.5. According to SECO, the range runs from 0.2 to 3.8 positions per 10,000 establishments.
| # | Canton | per 10,000 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Basel-StadtInspections 2021→2025: −5% | 648 |
| 2 | TicinoInspections 2021→2025: +93% | 560 |
| 3 | FribourgInspections 2021→2025: +57% | 353 |
| 4 | Basel-LandschaftInspections 2021→2025: +8% | 329 |
| 5 | SchaffhausenInspections 2021→2025: +28% | 316 |
| 6 | JuraInspections 2021→2025: −36% | 294 |
| 7 | VaudInspections 2021→2025: +13% | 255 |
| 8 | NeuchâtelInspections 2021→2025: +61% | 243 |
| 9 | Appenzell (AI + AR)Inspections 2021→2025: +1036% | 232 |
| 10 | St. GallenInspections 2021→2025: +294% | 217 |
| 11 | ValaisInspections 2021→2025: +17% | 198 |
| 12 | Uri + Nid-/ObwaldenInspections 2021→2025: −1% | 195 |
| 13 | SchwyzInspections 2021→2025: +7% | 177 |
| 14 | AargauInspections 2021→2025: +24% | 163 |
| 15 | GraubündenInspections 2021→2025: −47% | 129 |
| 16 | ZurichInspections 2021→2025: ±0% | 125 |
| 17 | SolothurnInspections 2021→2025: +40% | 116 |
| 18 | ThurgauInspections 2021→2025: +4% | 114 |
| 19 | BernInspections 2021→2025: +42% | 114 |
| 20 | GenevaInspections 2021→2025: −40% | 95 |
| 21 | LucerneInspections 2021→2025: −33% | 93 |
| 22 | GlarusInspections 2021→2025: −6% | 91 |
| 23 | ZugInspections 2021→2025: +17% | 38 |
All sectors (the report does not split cantons by sector). Basel-Stadt inspects 17 times more densely than Zug. AI/AR and UR/NW/OW run joint control bodies. Source: SECO, BGSA report 2025, table 4.1; workplaces: STATENT 2023 (annex II); own calculation.
What inspections find when they take place
The retreat from the household sector cannot be explained by inspections finding nothing. In 2025, 5,133 of the 14,450 on-site inspections, or 36%, uncovered at least one suspected violation; in total, the inspection bodies forwarded 14,147 suspected violations to the specialist authorities. At the end of the chain, however, things thin out: based on Article 13 BGSA, 90 sanctions were imposed nationwide in 2025, 86 of them in Geneva. In 22 cantons there was not a single one.
The legal channel is shrinking too
The simplified declaration procedure (VAV) is the route through which most households legally declare their employees. Here too, the report points downwards: 65,669 employers used the procedure most recently, 4% fewer than the year before and 11% fewer than in 2022. SECO writes: “The downward trend recorded since 2022 continues.” Less inspection and fewer legal registrations, both at the same time, is the most uncomfortable combination in this report.
73,779 → 65,669 employers (−11% since 2022). SECO: “The downward trend recorded since 2022 continues.” Source: BGSA report 2025, table 7.1 (BSV data).
One bright spot at least: the new “simplified declaration procedure plus”, in which the cantonal compensation office also settles the accident-insurance premiums directly, became available for the first time in 2025 and was used by 1,153 employers.
Figures to quote
Six print-ready sentences for newsrooms, each with its source.
“On-site inspections in the area of services for private households fell from 693 (2021) to 239 (2025), a decline of 65.5%, while inspections across all sectors rose by 19.8% to 14,450.”
Source: SECO, BGSA report 2025, table 4.3
“With an estimated 500,000 employer households, that corresponds to an inspection probability of 0.048% per year, statistically one inspection every 2,092 years.”
Source: Clino calculation based on the SECO BGSA report 2025 and the Homegate survey (cited in the Quitt report)
“Only 1.65% of all undeclared-work inspections in Switzerland now involve private households; in 2021 it was 5.7%.”
Source: SECO, BGSA report 2025, table 4.3, own calculation
“Two days after the report was published, the Federal Council sent a tightening of the law against undeclared work into consultation. The proposed instruments target corporate constructs, vehicle data and the transparency register; for the household sector, the bill contains no measure.”
Source: Federal Council, press release of 19.06.2026 (consultation until 16.10.2026, motion 24.3202)
“86 of the 90 sanctions under Article 13 BGSA in 2025 were imposed by a single canton: Geneva. In 22 cantons there was not a single one.”
Source: SECO, BGSA report 2025, chapter 6
“The number of employers who legally declare their employees through the simplified declaration procedure has fallen by 11% since 2022, to 65,669.”
Source: SECO, BGSA report 2025, table 7.1 (BSV data)
Who employs correctly anyway, and why
If an inspection comes statistically every 2,092 years, the fine is obviously not the reason to register a household employee correctly. The real reasons are different: back payments of social-insurance contributions can be claimed up to five years retroactively, with default interest, typically triggered not by an inspection but by an accident, a dispute or a registration by the employee herself. And for the employee, in this sector almost always a woman, registration determines whether she builds up a pension, is insured against accidents, and whether her working years exist in the eyes of the AHV (state pension).
Not registered
- •No AHV contributions, no pension for the employee
- •No accident cover; in the event of an accident, the household is liable
- •Back payments of contributions up to 5 years retroactively, plus default interest
- •No salary certificate, no provable working years
Legally registered
- •AHV/IV/EO from the first franc, the pension grows
- •Accident insurance covered
- •Written contract and monthly payslip
- •Salary certificate, clean with tax and social-insurance authorities
Why a payroll platform publishes this data
Clino is the Swiss platform for legal employment in private households: written contract, prepared AHV registration for the cantonal compensation office, accident insurance, monthly payslips and a salary certificate, in all 26 cantons, for CHF 19.90 per month. Employing legally should not take more effort than not doing so. That is why we continuously monitor the enforcement data for this sector and make it public.
The state is tightening the law against undeclared work while simultaneously withdrawing from the largest suspected segment of undeclared work: 239 inspections for 500,000 employer households, one every 2,092 years. Those who register correctly do not do it because of the inspection. They do it despite its absence.
Surprising findings
Hairdressing salons are inspected 4.4 times more often than all households combined
1,057 on-site inspections at hairdressing and beauty salons stand against 239 inspections at all of Switzerland's private households. The salons are an official focus sector whose inspections have more than doubled since 2021 (+125%), while the household sector fell back by 65.5%.
Almost all sanctions come from a single canton
Of the 90 sanctions under Article 13 BGSA in 2025, 86 fall to Geneva, one or two each to Ticino, Vaud and Aargau, and zero to the remaining 22 cantons. The law's toughest instrument, exclusion from public procurement, is de facto applied by a single canton.
The retreat is not happening because there is nothing to find
36% of all on-site inspections in 2025 produced at least one suspected violation, in Zug even 100%, in Lucerne 71%. Inspections are productive where they take place. The household sector is not inspected and does not even appear in the official inspection-density statistics, because private households are not “establishments” within the meaning of the statistics.
Sources
- SECO: BGSA report 2025 (enforcement of the Federal Act against Undeclared Work) (2026), Published 17.06.2026; tables 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 7.1; chapters 5 and 6
- SECO: BGSA report 2025, annexes (2026), STATENT 2023 basis: 721,727 workplaces and 5,644,870 employees by canton
- Federal Council: press release on the consultation on the BGSA amendment (2026), 19.06.2026, implementation of motion 24.3202 Candinas; deadline 16.10.2026
- Homegate AG / Quitt household-help report (2025), Estimate of 500,000 employer households (representative survey)
- Clino: The Inspection Lottery (2026), Predecessor study from March 2026 based on the BGSA report 2023 (1,645 years)
- Canton of Geneva (2021) and Comparis (2018) (2018–2021), Attributed estimates of the share of unregistered domestic employees (~30% and ~25%)
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Clino is a Swiss SaaS platform enabling households to legally employ domestic workers: payroll, contracts, social security, and accident insurance included. CHF 19.90/month. All 26 cantons. Founded 2026 in Zurich. clino.ch
