According to data released on Monday by the Public Employment Service (AMS), 333,954 people were unemployed or in training at the end of the month, down 1,933 people or 0.6 percent year-on-year. According to national calculations, the unemployment rate was 6.2 percent and thus 0.2 percentage points lower than in March 2022.
“Although the economic rally is obviously over, the AMS can once again – and thus for the 25th time in a row – announce falling unemployment,” commented AMS boss Johannes Kopf on the development. However, around half of the federal states and young people are already showing rising unemployment figures. Head expects a slowdown in the coming months.
Unemployment down in March
Around 334,000 people in Austria are registered with the AMS or are in training. That’s about 2,000 fewer than a year ago.
Youth unemployment rose by 4.9 percent compared to the previous year, while the trend among older people (50 years and older) continued to be positive at minus 6.1 percent. As in February, there was an increase for men (plus 1.5 percent), while for women there was a renewed decrease of minus three percent. With regard to male unemployment, Kopf pointed to falling employment in construction, which is the main reason for the increased number of unemployed.
“In good shape despite the slowing economy”
“Against the background that the economy was on the upswing a year ago after the corona-related restrictions, the current labor market situation is positive,” said Labor Minister Kocher. The current situation is evidence that the labor market is still in very good shape despite the flattening of the economy.
Kocher highlighted the group of people over 50 as a particularly positive development, where one sees “particularly positive changes both in terms of employment and the reduction in unemployment”. But the number of apprentices also “developed well” in March, according to Kocher, referring to the figures that have risen by 5.7 percent since March 2022.
“Many vacancies, many looking for work”
The Chamber of Labor (AK), the Austrian Trade Union Confederation (ÖGB) and the Federation of Austrian Trade Unions (IV), on the other hand, took the current figures as an opportunity to demand further measures for the labor market. “There are still many vacancies, but there are also many people who are looking for work,” says AK boss Renate Anderl, who, in a broadcast, identified a need for action in expanding childcare, but also in public transport workplace is also easily accessible.
But it is also about fair working conditions. “Especially older people, people with health problems or people who have been unemployed for a long time” still have a very difficult time, according to Anderl. “You are rarely invited to an interview at all. It’s the same with young people looking for an apprenticeship if they don’t have a very good certificate or come from the ‘wrong’ school”.
ÖGB demands “well thought out” programs
According to Ingrid Reischl from the ÖGB, the further decline in the number of unemployed is without a doubt “a good sign”, but that “by no means means that the economy should rest on its laurels”. In a broadcast, Reischl refers to the great need for skilled workers, which “presents us with enormous challenges”.
It is “absolutely necessary that we take measures to place employees in a targeted manner for vacancies. This includes well thought-out and targeted qualification, training and further education programs that make employees fit for future-oriented sectors,” says Reischl.
Quadruple in ten years
“It is now important to create incentives to get people into employment and to promote performance. All potential must be leveraged in order to remain competitive,” said Christoph Neumayer, the general secretary of the Federation of Austrian Industries (IV), on the occasion of the AMS figures published on Monday.
According to his information, the vacancies reported to the AMS have “consolidated at a very high level”. There is talk of a quadrupling in the last ten years. According to Neumayer, the shortage of workers and skilled workers has thus “consolidated” and continues to be an “enormous challenge for Austria’s companies and is increasingly burdening Austria as a business location”.
