This means that business development is as bad as in the first Corona year of 2020, when lockdowns with forced closures of companies affected them for months, according to SME research. “In real terms, the real decline in sales is at least as high as in the first Corona year of 2020. At that time the decline was nine percent. For 2023 we estimate the real decline in sales to be 9.5 percent,” says Christina Enichlmair from KMU Research. This means that there has been a continuous decline in trade and crafts since 2020.
Companies also largely assess the prospects for the first quarter as negative, with the investment-related sectors relating to construction assessing the situation even more bleakly than the consumer-related sectors. This includes hairdressers as well as vehicle repair shops, photographers and personnel service providers. In Upper Austria, only seven percent of companies expect an increase in sales or incoming orders, adds Michael Pecherstorfer, adding the Upper Austrian perspective.
The head of the Chamber of Commerce division is hopeful that the difficult wage round has been completed and that companies now have planning security and that the high levels of qualifications, together with further relief, will lead to the purchasing mood improving once more. Nevertheless, a number of sectors – especially all those related to construction – would need further public support measures. The WK is proposing the reintroduction of a craftsmen’s bonus, which might support local businesses quickly and easily and which would finance itself due to the additional tax revenue, according to the WK.
