AMS Chief: Austria in "Tricky Situation" Regarding Unemployment

And the state can hardly counteract due to a lack of funds. He emphasized that he did not want to give any tips on wage negotiations.

Austria as the only Euro country still in recession

Costs in Austria have also risen significantly more than in other countries. This has led to Austria recently being the only country in the Eurozone that is still in recession. "This is a problem. And the state can hardly counteract, for example, through lower taxes or low ancillary wage costs, because it itself has no money."

So there is a "tricky situation" and that is also the reason why he "does not expect Austria to quickly come out of this crisis and unemployment to significantly decrease soon."

"Greatest concerns" for low-skilled workers

According to Kopf, the tariffs introduced by the USA for the EU will also cost jobs. This is "very bad news" especially for the automotive supply industry. The automotive sector worries him, "this will burden us for a longer time."

The greatest concerns would continue to be the low-skilled individuals, according to Kopf. "They simply have a much higher unemployment rate and therefore a much lower chance of finding work." He is also worried about the poor regional distribution - Vienna has (due to the city's growth) a much higher unemployment rate, three times as high as in Tyrol, for example.

The fact that unemployment among women is rising faster than among men is partly due to the gradual increase in the retirement age for women, but also due to developments in the labor market: The construction industry is currently developing "quite favorably," with unemployment in this sector rising by only about one percent - in retail, however, it is about eight to nine percent. "That is also a reason."

Kopf against "Moralizing" Part-Time Work

Regarding the debate on part-time work initiated by the Federation of Austrian Industries and Minister of Economic Affairs Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer (ÖVP), and Hattmannsdorfer's criticism of a "lifestyle part-time wave," the AMS chief said he was "against this moralizing." "I am glad to live in a liberal system where everyone can choose how much they want to work."

It is true that Austria is a growing country with more and more people, but the total amount of working hours has remained constant for a long time - this already leads to problems in the social system because contributions are not increasing.

The main reason for part-time work among women is the lack of childcare. The state should "offer all-day, nationwide childcare," because many employees would like to work more, but cannot due to childcare issues. "This is antiquated, nonsensical, and needs to be changed."

(APA/Red)

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