In August, 309,431 people (of which 60,412 were in AMS training measures) were unemployed in Austria. Even if the increase in job seekers compared to July, at 12,784 people, is “higher than usual” according to Minister of Labor Martin Kocher (VP), there is still not much evidence of record inflation, supply insecurity and the threat of recession on the domestic labor market. At 5.9 percent, the unemployment rate was the lowest in August in nine years.
Year-on-year, the number of unemployed fell by 10.9 percent. What is striking is a decline of 46.1 percent in the long-term unemployed – i.e. people who have been unemployed for more than 365 days. Gerald Haider from AMS Upper Austria explains the decline with the “returning to normality” and the increasing planning security of companies after two years of the Corona crisis: “There are more permanent jobs again.” Because in order to no longer be recorded in the statistics, an employment relationship must exist for more than 62 days.
Kocher described the labor market situation as “continuing to be stable” – even if the “first effects” of the uncertainty were to become apparent as a result of increased prices and the Russian war of aggression. Accordingly, companies with high energy requirements would have the most problems in the future.
AMS Vice President Iris Schmidt also described the situation on the Upper Austrian job market as “positive and stable”. The unemployment rate in the federal state was 3.9 percent in August, and the absolute number of unemployed fell by 11.7 percent to 28,575 people compared to the previous year (see info box). The number of vacancies is remarkable: In August it was 34,573.
urgently needed workers
However, the “constantly high level” of more than 260,000 vacancies throughout Austria according to the job monitor of the Economic Association represents a burden for companies. Due to the shortage of workers, many companies have had to turn down orders because they lack the staff. According to General Secretary Kurt Egger, this situation “must not become the norm”. (fep)
labor market in Upper Austria
3.9 percent was the unemployment rate in August. It was thus 0.6 percentage points lower than in the same month of the previous year.
10.7 percent there were more vacancies last month than in August 2021 – a total of 34,573.
1.4 percent more people than in the previous year were employed, a total of 701,000.
Source: Nachrichten
