Martin Kocher, Minister of Labor and Economy, gave an update on the current situation on Tuesday and explained which packages he is currently working on.
As every week Minister of Labor announced Martin Kocher, now also responsible for the economy, an update on the labor market. “It’s a big challenge, but I also have a lot of respect for the task,” he said in the introduction to his new “Mega” department. Social partners will be an even more important part of the talks, he announced.
315,000 people are currently registered as unemployed or in training – a decrease of almost 4,000 people compared to the previous week. 53,023 people are pre-registered for short-time work. Half of this relates to the goods manufacturing industry, which is due to delivery problems from China and the Ukraine war.
Robust Austria
“We are noticing that the Austrian labor market has become more robust over the past two years and is currently better able to deal with the challenges posed by the crisis than it was a few years ago,” summarized Martin Kocher. “The declining trend shows that the positive momentum on labour market currently being slowed down by geopolitical events and their economic impact.”
From now on, the weekly press conference will also briefly address the economic situation. The forecast published yesterday by the European Commission (Wifo) for Austria assumes gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 3.9 percent for 2022. This puts Austria in the top 5 in Europe.
industrious youth
There was also positive news for long-term unemployment: 95,186 people are currently affected, so at the end of April 2022 it was below the pre-crisis level.
When it comes to youth unemployment (6.9 percent), only Germany is ahead of Austria in the EU. Since the end of April 2020, youth unemployment including training has been reduced by around 33,700 people through several measures.
“Young unemployment often leads to interrupted careers for those affected later in their working life. It is important to me personally, but it also makes economic sense that we start our programs with unemployed young people in order to get as many as possible into employment and fulfilling jobs”, explained Kocher
Short-time work extended
Short-time work will be extended until the end of the year, Martin Kocher announced when asked. You stick to the current regulation, which includes a 15 percent deductible on the part of the entrepreneur. Nevertheless, you want to be a little stricter when it comes to access.
With regard to the skimming off of profits from partially state-owned energy companies announced by Chancellor Karl Nehammer, Kocher states that it is important to create a complete package here. On the one hand, it is regarding the energy prices themselves, but also regarding non-wage labor costs, cold progression and many other factors. This package will be worked out over the next few weeks.