Semsales (; frp, Semsâles ) is a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality ...
in the district of
Veveyse in the
canton
Canton may refer to:
Administrative division terminology
* Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland
* Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French
Arts and ent ...
of
Fribourg
, Location of , Location of ()
() or , ; or , ; gsw, label=Swiss German, Frybùrg ; it, Friburgo or ; rm, Friburg. is the capital of the Cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Canton of Fribourg, Fribourg and district of Sarine (district), ...
in
Switzerland.
History
Semsales is first mentioned about 1100 as ''septem salis''.
[
]
Geography
Semsales has an area of . Of this area, or 46.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 48.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 3.4% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.5% is either rivers or lakes and or 1.5% is unproductive land.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics]
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 1.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.6%. Out of the forested land, 45.3% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 5.7% is used for growing crops and 20.3% is pastures and 20.4% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.[
The municipality is located in the Veveyse district, at the foot of the Fribourg pre-alpine mountains (Niremont, Les Alpettes). It lies along an important transportation axis including; the Bulle-]Châtel-Saint-Denis
Châtel-Saint-Denis (; frp, Châtél, locally ''Tsathi'' , or ''Châtél-Sent-Denis'', locally ''Tsathi-Chin-Dèni'') is a municipality and district capital of the district of Veveyse in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland.
Geography
Châte ...
road, the A12 motorway and the Bulle-Palézieux rail line. It consists of the village of Semsales and, since 1 January 1968, the former municipality of La Rougève.[Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz]
accessed 4 April 2011
Coat of arms
The blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visua ...
of the municipal coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in it ...
is ''Azure two Columns issuant from as many Mounts all Argent encircled with seven Mullet of Five three and two and two.''
Demographics
Semsales has a population () of . , 10.4% of the population are resident foreign nationals.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Superweb database - Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008]
accessed 19 June 2010 Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 13%. Migration accounted for 9.8%, while births and deaths accounted for 1.3%.
accessed 19-December-2011French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
(956 or 93.8%) as their first language, German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
is the second most common (29 or 2.8%) and Portuguese is the third (9 or 0.9%). There are 7 people who speak Italian.[ There are also 6 people who speak English.
, the population was 49.2% male and 50.8% female. The population was made up of 489 Swiss men (43.3% of the population) and 67 (5.9%) non-Swiss men. There were 521 Swiss women (46.1%) and 53 (4.7%) non-Swiss women.][Canton of Fribourg Statistics]
accessed 3 November 2011 Of the population in the municipality, 457 or about 44.8% were born in Semsales and lived there in 2000. There were 260 or 25.5% who were born in the same canton, while 171 or 16.8% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 80 or 7.9% were born outside of Switzerland.[
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 23.6% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 60.7% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 15.7%.][
, there were 410 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 480 married individuals, 72 widows or widowers and 57 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 407 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household.[ There were 114 households that consist of only one person and 28 households with five or more people. , a total of 394 apartments (81.6% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 69 apartments (14.3%) were seasonally occupied and 20 apartments (4.1%) were empty.][Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen]
accessed 28 January 2011 , the construction rate of new housing units was 12.3 new units per 1000 residents.[ The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.19%.][
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
Politics
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 26.4% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS (23.4%), the CVP (20.4%) and the FDP (17.2%).[Canton of Fribourg National Council Election of 23 October 2011 Statistics]
accessed 3 November 2011
The SVP improved their position in Semsales rising to first, from second in 2007 (with 22.8%) The SPS moved from third in 2007 (with 20.8%) to second in 2011, the CVP moved from first in 2007 (with 29.2%) to third and the FDP retained about the same popularity (20.6% in 2007). A total of 398 votes were cast in this election, of which 7 or 1.8% were invalid.
Economy
, Semsales had an unemployment rate of 2.9%. , there were 75 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 26 businesses involved in this sector. 114 people were employed in the secondary sector
In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructio ...
and there were 21 businesses in this sector. 110 people were employed in the tertiary sector
The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector ( raw materials) and the secon ...
, with 28 businesses in this sector.[ There were 542 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 41.1% of the workforce.
the total number of ]full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit that indicates the workload of an employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often used to measure a ...
jobs was 251. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 57, of which 48 were in agriculture and 9 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 109 of which 58 or (53.2%) were in manufacturing and 51 (46.8%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 85. In the tertiary sector; 41 or 48.2% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 5 or 5.9% were in the movement and storage of goods, 11 or 12.9% were in a hotel or restaurant, 3 or 3.5% were the insurance or financial industry, 2 or 2.4% were technical professionals or scientists, 8 or 9.4% were in education and 3 or 3.5% were in health care.
, there were 83 workers who commuted into the municipality and 378 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 4.6 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 7.6% used public transportation to get to work, and 71.2% used a private car.[
]
Religion
From the , 817 or 80.2% were Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
, while 80 or 7.9% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), (EKS); french: Église évangélique réformée de Suisse (EERS); it, Chiesa evangelica riformata in Svizzera (CERiS); rm, Baselgia evangelica refurmada da la Svizra (BRRS) formerly named Federation o ...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 5 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.49% of the population), and there were 12 individuals (or about 1.18% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
, and 8 (or about 0.79% of the population) who were Islamic. There was 1 person who was Hindu and 2 individuals who belonged to another church. 58 (or about 5.69% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficie ...
or atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
, and 41 individuals (or about 4.02% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Semsales about 316 or (31.0%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education
Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final ph ...
, and 84 or (8.2%) have completed additional higher education (either university
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...
or a ''Fachhochschule
A ''Fachhochschule'' (; plural ''Fachhochschulen''), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied ar ...
''). Of the 84 who completed tertiary schooling, 63.1% were Swiss men, 21.4% were Swiss women, 8.3% were non-Swiss men and 7.1% were non-Swiss women.[
The Canton of Fribourg school system provides one year of non-obligatory ]Kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...
, followed by six years of Primary school. This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude. Following the lower Secondary students may attend a three or four year optional upper Secondary school. The upper Secondary school is divided into gymnasium (university preparatory) and vocational programs. After they finish the upper Secondary program, students may choose to attend a Tertiary school or continue their apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...
.Chart of the education system in Canton Fribourg
During the 2010-11 school year, there were a total of 135 students attending 7 classes in Semsales. A total of 201 students from the municipality attended any school, either in the municipality or outside of it. There were 2 kindergarten classes with a total of 31 students in the municipality. The municipality had 5 primary classes and 104 students. During the same year, there were no lower secondary classes in the municipality, but 37 students attended lower secondary school in a neighboring municipality. There were no upper Secondary classes or vocational classes, but there were 6 upper Secondary students and 23 upper Secondary vocational students who attended classes in another municipality. The municipality had no non-university Tertiary classes, but there was one specialized Tertiary student who attended classes in another municipality.[
Notably, Semsales has a large percentage of youth who chose to attend post-secondary schools overseas in Canada. One such resident, Joane Maillard, has gone on to be a "Nova Scotia future women leaders" award winner at the Gerald Schwartz School of Business.
]
References
External links
Official website
{{Authority control
Municipalities of the canton of Fribourg