Problems in the supply chains, energy crisis, inflation: Domestic companies are struggling with numerous problems. For many, however, the greatest challenge is the blatant shortage of workers: “The situation on the labor market is tense. In June, the number of vacancies was 140,000 than ever before,” said Agenda Austria economist Denes Kucsera at a press conference yesterday, Wednesday. At the same time, unemployment has fallen to its lowest level in ten years (310,000).
Because there are hardly any applicants, the search for companies is taking longer and longer: between 2008 and 2018 it took 20 to 40 days, today it is 60 to 80 days. The labor shortage is also increasingly damaging the economy: More than 30 percent of companies in the service sector and 20 percent in the industrial sector recently stated that they cannot operate normally.
According to Agenda Austria, three reasons are decisive for the misery: In addition to demographic change (people are getting older, fewer young people are coming), the unemployed and open jobs often do not go together: “There are many unemployed waiters and cooks in Vienna, but many open ones Jobs in the West,” says Kucsera: 14 percent of the unemployed could find a job if they were willing to move.
Trap instead of springboard
In addition, the corona pandemic has fueled demand for part-time jobs: the number of employees is above the pre-crisis level of 2019. However, the total number of hours worked is lower than before the pandemic.
According to Agenda economist Hanno Lorenz, only those who want to work part-time should work: “The state must invest in good, all-day childcare.”
Incentives to work less should also be eliminated. The marginal earnings limit (every unemployed person can earn an additional 485 euros a month without reducing unemployment benefits) is often not a stepping stone back into the labor market, but a trap: “The incentives are wrong. It is often not worth taking a job, especially for people with lower and middle incomes,” says Lorenz. This constellation is particularly common in retail or gastronomy (see graphic). The additional earnings limit must be limited in time, says Lorenz. Anyone who works shouldn’t be stupid.
Source: Nachrichten
