The labor market recovered quickly from the pandemic.

Those who want to work currently have good prospects in Austria. The number of vacancies has been at record highs for months. In March, 123,897 immediately available jobs were reported to the Public Employment Service (AMS), 67 percent more than a year earlier. The postponed search for employees and the economic upswing after the Corona year 2020 led to this job record.

The requirements have changed significantly in recent years. Many jobs today require a higher level of training, as an analysis by the AMS shows. By 2003, the proportion of vacancies that did not require any training beyond compulsory school was around half. From 2004 onwards, this share fell continuously until it was only 30 percent in 2015. From 2016, the number of these vacancies increased again.

The AMS is constantly filling vacancies, so the number of open jobs is not static. In addition, not all available jobs are reported to the AMS. The Wirtschaftsbund’s job monitor, which also includes job advertisements on online job portals, reported 270,000 vacancies at the end of February.

The number of unemployed in Austria fell by 27 percent to 336,000 in March. The unemployment rate fell to 6.3 percent and thus to the lowest value since 2008. But the labor market will cloud over as a result of the sanctions against Russia, the Ministry of Labor expects. Hello

(“Die Presse”, print edition, 01.05.2022)