This is shown by a representative foresight study (formerly SORA, note.) on behalf of Caritas from September 2023 with 1,011 respondents. In contrast, only one in five see current political efforts to ensure care as sufficient. Even three quarters think that foreign skilled workers are needed. 200,000 additional staff will be needed in nursing care by 2050. This is the result of the current nursing staff demand forecast from Health Austria.
Care relevant to voting decisions
Unsurprisingly, concern regarding who will care for you in the future increases with age, as the September study shows. Concern is also greater among people with middle and lower incomes and among those without a migration background. However, almost half say that the topic of care is relevant to their decision.
An east-west divide is also noticeable: While concern regarding future individual care is above average in Vienna at 67 percent and in Lower Austria and Burgenland at 75 percent, it is comparatively low in the west (Salzburg, Tyrol, Vorarlberg) ( 32 percent). A smaller number of people in the West also see the employment of foreign skilled workers as necessary than in the East.
Almost 50 percent consider nursing to be an attractive career field
Approval of a salary or scholarship for people who are retraining for the nursing profession is the clearest at 95 percent. Similarly, more than nine out of ten respondents (93 percent) agree with the statement that the amount of care allowance should cover the actual costs of care needs. A clear majority of those surveyed (87 percent) also support uniform cost regulations and quality standards in the care sector throughout Austria.
Almost half of those surveyed rated nursing as an attractive career field, seven out of ten saw the work as very meaningful, and even three quarters saw the profession as more crisis-proof and more in demand than other professions. However, only a quarter can imagine working in the nursing sector themselves. If employment conditions were improved in the form of higher salaries, 30 percent of those surveyed might imagine working in the nursing sector. However, only one percent of those surveyed agree with an improvement through a reduction in physical strain.
Higher readiness of women
There are clear differences in the assessment of the professional field and activity according to gender and age. Women rate both the attractiveness of the professional field and their own willingness to work in the nursing profession higher than men. Although older people (aged 55 and over) see the professional field as more attractive than younger people, they are less able to imagine working in this field themselves. In addition, people with a migrant background are generally more likely to imagine working in the care sector than people without a migrant background, especially in the event of an increase in salaries and a reduction in physical workload.
For the Vienna Caritas director Klaus Schwertner, the results of the survey are a clear mandate for politicians. What would be necessary is a “real system reform” to secure long-term care in Austria, including sufficient financing, a training offensive, good long-term salaries, new models for personnel planning and coordinated quality and cost standards throughout Austria. “Let’s finally stop badmouthing care. Already today, more people are working in the care sector than ever before,” said Schwertner in a statement to the APA. But we will have to get significantly more people interested in nursing professions.
According to Schwertner, in order to make Austria attractive as a location for nursing staff from abroad, not only simplifications in the red-white-red card and corresponding professional recognition would be necessary. “It will also be central to create a culture in which people who want to live and work here feel welcome and valued.”
