The unemployment rate has currently increased to 6.1 percent.
The cooling economy is further increasing unemployment in Austria. At the end of August 2023, 320,759 people were registered with the AMS as unemployed or in training, 11,328 more than in the previous year, the Ministry of Labor and Economy announced in a statement released on Friday. The unemployment rate rose to 6.1 percent. In the same month last year it was still at 5.9 percent. However, the number of vacancies dropped slightly in August.
This means that unemployment has recently increased somewhat less sharply than in July, when an increase of around 14,000 people was recorded compared to the previous year. For the head of the AMS, Johannes Kopf, it is still too early to “be able to see a development in the right direction here”, as he noted in a comment on current labor market data. Unemployment is rising, especially in the construction, tourism and industrial sectors.
Increases in all federal states
Kopf highlighted the development in Tyrol as positive, as the number of unemployed people, including participants in AMS training, was decreasing. According to AMS, it fell by 4.2 percent compared to the previous year, while there was growth in all other federal states. These were strongest in Styria (plus 5.4 percent), Vorarlberg (plus 5.3 percent), Vienna (plus 4.3 percent) and Upper Austria (plus 4.1 percent). Burgenland followed with an increase of 3.6 percent, Salzburg with 3.3 percent and Carinthia with 3 percent. The increase was lowest in Lower Austria (up 2.3%).
The development among older people (aged 50 and over) is encouraging; there was a decline of 1.7 percent. However, unemployment increased in other age groups. The number increased both among young people (people under 25 years old) with an increase of 6.7 percent, and among people of working age (25 to 49 years old) (5.4 percent more).
Men were more affected by the increase in unemployment (+5.5 percent) in August than women (+1.7 percent). A disparity between locals and foreigners can also be observed in August. Although unemployment among the national population fell slightly by one percent, it increased significantly among foreigners by 11.4 percent.
Ongoing shortage of skilled workers
The number of vacancies has decreased. At the end of August, the AMS registered 109,813 vacancies, 17.7 percent less than in the previous year. The ÖVP-Wirtschaftsbund’s job monitor, which incorporates data from various job portals, showed 214,952 vacancies and therefore also a decline. However, the Secretary General of the Economic Association, Kurt Egger, does not see an easing of the shortage of skilled workers. He was quoted as saying that local businesses would continue to look “desperately” for staff.
Minister for Labor and Economy Martin Kocher (ÖVP) sees the domestic labor market as still robust despite weaker economic dynamics. What is particularly encouraging is the evolution of long-term unemployment, which has been reduced by almost half since its peak in April 2021, at 148,436 people, and currently stands at 75,251 people.
The FPÖ, the Industrial Association (IV), as well as the Chamber of Labor (AK) and the Federation of Trade Unions (ÖGB) reacted to the current data largely with criticism or calls for measures. While the FPÖ focused on the high level of unemployment among foreigners and said that Kocher was covering up the labor market situation, the IV called for an increase in performance incentives in order to get people into work. The Chamber of Labor, for its part, insisted, among other things, on more financial resources to combat youth unemployment. Above all, the ÖGB needs sufficient and well-trained AMS personnel. (APA)