Image: Alpbachtal Tourismus
Overall, Austria’s economic output is 3.4 percent above the 2019 level, said Bank Austria chief economist Peter Bruckbauer and his colleague Robert Schwarz at an online press conference today.
The outlier in the federal state statistics is Tyrol, which is 1.1 percent below the pre-corona level. This is because Tyrol is most dependent on tourism of all federal states, said Bruckbauer. Although this has caught up in the past two years, it has not grown as strongly as construction, services and industry.
Upper Austria is robust, said Bruckbauer. In our federal state, industry accounts for 31 percent of the total value added, which is more than in all other federal states. For comparison: in Vienna it is ten percent. The shortage of skilled workers extends across all federal states, with the west of Austria being hit hardest, according to the Bank Austria economists.
Bruckbauer and Schwarz are cautiously optimistic for this year. “Another recovery is coming, but it will be tough,” said Bruckbauer. According to Bank Austria, the economy is growing by 0.7 percent, next year there should be growth of 1.2 percent. “That puts us in line with the European average. A recession is even expected in the USA,” said Bruckbauer. Lower growth is predicted for those federal states that, like Upper Austria, are heavily dependent on industry and exports.
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