Image: VOLKER WEIHBOLD
At the same time, the employment participation of older people in Austria remains below the EU average; Austria has the second highest part-time rate in the EU after Holland. According to Statistics Austria, more than half of women over 35 work part-time.
- Also read: EU comparison: In only one country is the gender pay gap higher than in Austria
While Austria’s labor market is developing relatively stable in the short term despite the weakening economy, it faces major structural problems in the longer term. According to Statistics Austria’s forecast, Austria’s population will grow to over 10 million by 2080 – but this growth will primarily occur among those over 65, explained the deputy head of the Population Directorate at Statistics Austria, Matea Paškvan, on Tuesday a press conference in Vienna.
The number of unemployed people increased by 19,700 to 240,900 in 2023 compared to the previous year, but the number of employed people also increased by 40,400 to a good 4.5 million, reported Director General of Statistics Tobias Thomas. However, many positions could not be filled. Although the number of job vacancies has fallen, it remained at a high level at 206,400 on average for the year. “Due to demographic change, the labor shortage is likely to become even worse in the future,” says Thomas.
In addition to the high part-time rate, the labor force participation of those over 55 years old, which is below average compared to the EU, represents a structural challenge for the labor market. While in 2022 in the EU an average of 62.3 percent of 55 to 64 year olds were employed, this rate was in Austria only 56.4 percent. In Sweden it was 77.3 percent – at the other end of the ranking was Luxembourg with 46.6 percent. The employment rate of older people has increased significantly in recent years: in 2004, just one in four people aged 55 to 64 was still working (employment rate: 27.1 percent), and in 2023 it was already more than everyone Second (57.3 percent). Overall, the employment rate for 15 to 64 year olds was 74.1 percent.
High part-time rate
Older people are often mentioned as a possible reservoir for dealing with the shortage of workers or skilled workers – however, only 76,500 of the currently unemployed people between the ages of 55 and 74 would want to take up employment again, that is only 5.6 percent. Even in the group of 55 to 59 year olds it is not even one in four. When it comes to part-time employment, Austrians fall even further outside the EU framework: at 30.5 percent, the part-time rate here is the second highest after Holland (43.4 percent).
This is primarily a female phenomenon: in 2023, more than a million women were working part-time, a good three times as many as men. From the age of 35 onwards, the majority of women work part-time. A key reason for this is child care: every second child has care that does not allow full-time work. According to Paškvan, 39 percent of women who work part-time cite caring responsibilities for children and elderly relatives as reasons. However, over 70 percent of women also say that they would like to provide care themselves.
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