More than 12,000 people were long-term unemployed in Upper Austria in June. This means that almost a third of all unemployed people and training participants have not had a job for more than a year. Although a lot of tax money is available nationwide to help the unemployed get a job again, and there are many vacancies, one should not expect that these people will all get jobs again, says Silvia Kunz. She is the managing director of the FAB, the association for the promotion of work and employment, and is therefore responsible for ensuring that people with different handicaps find work again.
Kunz says you have to face the fact that some of the unemployed “cannot be accommodated in normal companies even with all the subsidies.” At least half of the long-term unemployed have several so-called placement obstacles. So you are too old and too sick to have a job opportunity in companies.
“Given the intensity of long-term unemployment, it would be high time to try new concepts,” says Kunz. In Denmark and France, “social firms” have long been established that offer socially valuable activities. These companies would be self-sustaining and could be run by employees who would have no permanent chance in the primary job market.
The expansion of these social enterprises could take place in the reprocessing area, for example. The FAB Reno activities, where broken washing machines or other electrical appliances are repaired or reconditioned, are an example of this.
The demand for used PCs is currently increasing. “We can’t recycle enough laptops,” says Kunz. This is a business area that she would like to expand. But this would require long-term planning security. FAB carries out its projects on behalf of the AMS. The current generous labor market budgets are limited to the end of 2022.
“If we develop new business areas, we need a start-up phase lasting three or four years,” says Kunz. In the summer, two processing lines for computers are to be built at the FAB location in the Industriezeile in Linz in cooperation with a Viennese company.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
