Job Cuts in Industry and Trade

According to Statistics Austria on Thursday, the number of employees in industry and trade fell by 62,800 or 5.7 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period last year, bringing the total to 1.05 million.

Economic Downturn Hits Industry and Trade Hard

"The ongoing industrial recession has left significant marks on the Austrian labor market," commented the interim Director General of Statistics Austria, Thomas Burg, on the current labor market data in a press release. However, there was positive news from the service sector: The number of employees in service professions increased significantly again, with a rise of 67,900 or 2.1 percent, reaching 3.28 million. Overall, the number of employed persons remained almost unchanged at 4.44 million in the first quarter. According to the calculation method of the International Labour Organization (ILO), 284,300 unemployed persons in Austria were actively seeking work and available for employment in the first quarter of this year. This is 10.8 percent or 27,700 more than in the first quarter of 2024, according to Statistics Austria.

Unemployment Rate by International Definition at 6 Percent

The non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose by 0.6 percentage points to 6.0 percent in the first quarter. Among foreign nationals, the increase in the unemployment rate according to the ILO definition was stronger, with a rise of 1.5 percentage points to 12.2 percent, compared to Austrian workers (+0.2 percentage points to 4.3 percent). The unemployment rate also rose "above average" among people with at most a compulsory school education to 14.1 percent (+1.7 percentage points), according to Statistics Austria. In contrast to the unemployment figures calculated using the national method, which uses unemployed persons registered with the Public Employment Service (AMS), the unemployment figures according to the ILO definition are calculated using survey data from the microcensus labor force survey. For comparison: At the end of March 2025, around 397,000 unemployed persons and training participants were registered with the AMS. The Public Employment Service does not publish quarterly data.

(APA/Red)

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