In Wealthy Zurich And Yet Still Poor (Swiss Press Online 2017, by Patrice Siegrist) - Swiss Press Award
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Patrice Siegrist
What’s it like to live in an affluent city as a person on social welfare? The story based around Oliver lends the poverty in Zurich a face, albeit an anonymous one. After several illnesses, separation, a failed attempt at professional independence and years spent in a financial downward spiral, Oliver is having to make ends meet on 326 francs a month. Oliver’s individual case is contextualised with graphs and
statistics, a video interview about prejudices surrounding social welfare, and a mini quiz asking for an estimate of the price of a kilo of potatoes in Zurich. All data can be viewed broken down to the individual city districts, so that the story reads entirely differently from the perspective of a Seefeld resident (social welfare rate: 1.2 percent) than from that of a Langstrasse resident (8.6 percent).
Interview with Patrice Siegrist
