Austria: 393,544 registered as unemployed
Despite the continued immense number of omicron infections, unemployment has fallen somewhat compared to the previous week. Currently, 393,544 people are registered with the AMS as unemployed (321,690) or in training (71,854).
A week ago there were 404,943 affected by 11,399 more. The number of 110,000 long-term unemployed remains problematic.
A year ago, the number of unemployed and trainees was significantly higher at 528,679 people. And even before the start of the corona crisis in 2020 (412,928) and 2019 (426,508) more people were unemployed or in training than at the moment.
179,000 on short-time work
However, 179,000 people are currently pre-registered for Corona short-time work, which was of course not the case before the crisis. After all, according to the Ministry of Labor, it was recently shown that the actual use of short-time work in the fourth quarter of 2021 was far below the number of pre-registrations. 177,000 people were registered. At 100,000, the number of people actually billed for short-time work was “significantly lower”. Short-time work would often be registered as a precautionary measure, it is concluded from this.
Cooker: Plants adapt
From the point of view of Labor Minister Martin Kocher (ÖVP), the decline shows “that employees and companies have adapted more and more to this special situation during the course of the pandemic”. The momentum on the labor market is currently “hardly slowed down”. But: “The proportion of job seekers who can be placed immediately is not particularly high given the positive dynamics on the labor market.” Therefore, this workforce potential should be raised in order to place people quickly.