At the end of January there were 8 percent more people without a job compared to the same month last year. When unemployed and training participants were combined, 421,207 people (+31,148) were unemployed. The unemployment rate increased by 0.6 percentage points to 8.1 percent. Unemployment has been rising since April 2023.
There was a particularly strong year-on-year increase in unemployed people and training participants in Upper Austria (+12.8 percent), Styria (+9.9 percent) and Vorarlberg (+9.2 percent). In Vienna the increase amounted to 8 percent, Lower Austria (+6.6 percent), Salzburg (+5.8 percent), Burgenland (5.1 percent), Tyrol (+4.4 percent) and Carinthia (+3. 7 percent.) The increase in unemployment figures is due to the “weaker economic dynamics than in the previous year,” said Labor and Economics Minister Martin Kocher (ÖVP) in a press release.
Increase in unemployment by sector
The highest increase in unemployed people and AMS training participants by sector was in health and social services at 16.2 percent, followed by goods production (+13.8 percent), accommodation and catering (+8.3 percent), transport and Warehousing (+8 percent) and trade (+7.8 percent). The comparatively lowest increases occurred in temporary employment (+6.9 percent) and in construction (+6.6 percent).
There was a particularly strong increase in unemployment among people with academic training (+17 percent), foreigners (+14.7 percent) and young people under 25 years of age (+11.5 percent).
The number of long-term unemployed remained almost unchanged compared to the previous year at just under 78,000. Long-term unemployment peaked at over 148,000 people in spring 2021 as a result of the corona pandemic. “So that we can further reduce long-term unemployment, the AMS has a dedicated budget of over 270 million euros for long-term unemployed and older people,” said Kocher.
87,000 vacancies “available immediately”
The sputtering economic engine in Austria is also noticeable on the job market. At the end of January, the employment service reported over 87,000 vacancies as immediately available, a decrease of around 19 percent compared to the same month last year. The decline in vacancies shows “the difficult economic situation,” explained AMS board member Petra Draxl in a statement. “We hope that the forecasts of a positive economic upswing will materialize from the middle of the year.” This makes it all the more important that “this time is also used for the necessary higher qualifications of people”. “Despite rising unemployment, we continue to be concerned regarding the need for skilled workers,” said Draxl.
The ÖVP Economic Association records all job portals in its job monitor and recorded 165,129 open positions in January. At the end of January, over 8,000 open apprenticeship positions were immediately available and there were 7,000 apprenticeship seekers.
