As of the end of the month, 369,640 people were registered with the AMS, 291,468 of whom were registered as unemployed, and 78,172 people took part in AMS training. The Ministry of Labor announced this on Tuesday. Unemployment is currently falling overall due to seasonal factors, but the AMS boss sees “a particularly bad development”. “At the end of March 2024, the number of people registered by the AMS as unemployed or in training was almost 36,000 people or around 11 percent higher than the same day in the previous year,” calculated AMS boss Johannes Kopf.
“This is a particularly bad development for a deadline that this year fell on Easter Sunday, which is generally favorable for employment.” According to the expert, Austria is apparently still clearly in recession. “Unlike a year ago, when the forecasts only predicted a short economic downturn, I no longer believe in a rapid recovery in the sense of an early reduction in unemployment in Austria.”
Due to the high inflation in this country, companies have not only lost competitiveness, but also have excess personnel capacity. “Even if growth returns, unemployment will probably only fall with a delay,” analyzes Kopf.
“Low value”
“Compared to the years before the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, this is a low value,” commented Labor Minister Martin Kocher (ÖVP) on the latest labor market data. “The currently slightly higher unemployment rate than in March 2023 is primarily a result of the economically challenging environment.”
The unemployment rate was 7.5 percent in the same month of 2019, before the outbreak of the corona pandemic. In 2020 it was 12.3 percent, in 2021 it was 9.3 percent, in 2022 it was 6.3 and a year ago it was 6.2 percent. There is currently “still a relatively high level of dynamism in areas of the Austrian labor market,” said Kocher. Areas such as construction or trade, for example, do not currently have this dynamic. Overall, the Austrian labor market “continues to be relatively resilient,” said the government politician in the statement.
It is positive that the number of people employed in the labor market remains very high at 3,956,000. There were 6,000 more people employed in March than a year ago. The Chamber of Labor (AK) pointed to rising long-term unemployment once more. People with health problems and the elderly are particularly affected by this.
In addition, financial difficulties for households affected by unemployment would increase. “Unemployment must under no circumstances lead to poverty,” said AK leader Renate Anderl. “The already poor relationship between unemployment benefit and previous income, the lack of adjustment to inflation and the complete devaluation of family allowances, which have not been adjusted since 2001, massively increase the risk of poverty in the event of a job loss.”
Average AMS length of stay at 104 days
On the positive side, Kocher primarily referred to older employees aged 60 and over. In this group, there was recently an increase in employment of around 9 percent (or 14,844 people) to 181,546 people compared to the previous year. It is also “remarkable” that “through the effective mediation of the AMS, it was possible to reduce the length of time that people registered with the AMS remained unemployed by a further four days within a year,” said the politician.
The average length of stay at the AMS in the first quarter of 2023 was 108 days. This value has now fallen to 104 days. However, the number of vacancies has also increased once more, according to the ÖVP Economic Association in its monthly survey. After 178,541 in February, there were 184,811 unfilled jobs in March.
Kocher also speaks of “high demand for labor in some areas.” According to the skilled labor barometer from the Ministry of Labor and the AMS, there are a good 3,200 jobs open in the electrical installation sector and a good 2,000 jobs as cooks. There should be relief overall and in specific areas an increase in work permits via red-white-red cards.
