Image: ROLAND SCHLAGER (APA)
Taken together, the unemployed and participants in training were 320,602 people (+9,059) without a job. The unemployment rate increased slightly by 0.2 percentage points to 5.9 percent. Year-on-year unemployment rose in April for the first time in two years.
For Labor and Economics Minister Martin Kocher (ÖVP), the increase in unemployment is “moderate”. In the spring, seasonal fluctuations in unemployment are “nothing unusual,” said Kocher in a broadcast on Thursday. “Of course, positive effects on the labor market are weaker this year due to the economic slowdown than in the previous year, which was characterized by an extraordinarily good economic and labor market development.”
Since April 21, Ukrainians have had completely free access to the labor market in Austria and are therefore included in the unemployment statistics. Of the 9,000 additional unemployed and training participants at the end of May, around 4,400 are displaced people from Ukraine, according to AMS board member Johannes Kopf. 5.9 percent. “Weak economic development, high inflation and increased access by job-seeking convention refugees or those entitled to subsidiary protection explain the remaining increase,” said the AMS board in a statement.
The economic downturn in Austria is also reflected in the job market. At the end of May, more than 117,000 vacancies were reported as immediately available at the labor market service, a drop of around 15 percent compared to the same month last year. According to the head of the AMS, tourism, construction and industry are “not looking for as many workers as last year”.
Source: Nachrichten
