Johannes Kopf spoke out on Saturday for an increase in unemployment benefits, but wants to “discuss it extensively”.
Unemployment is particularly high in the corona crisis. The instrument of short-time work cushions them somewhat. The current regulation expires at the end of March. AMS boss Johannes Kopf is now pleading for the current model to be retained beyond the first quarter. “I believe that short-time work will also be needed in the second quarter with the current regulation, but that a change will be necessary from summer onwards,” he said on Saturday in the Ö1 “Mittagsjournal”.
It should not be the case that short-time work slows down “necessary structural reforms”. “Therefore, an exit scenario from short-time work is also required.” Because there are probably cases where this only conceals future unemployment. Employees should not be “hoarded” in areas where they are no longer needed after the crisis.
Here it is “wiser if people become unemployed and find something else – when the upswing is there,” said Kopf, who named city and congress tourism, which should take a particularly long time to reach the pre-crisis level. When the upswing really takes hold depends mainly on the vaccinations – when and how many people are immunized. Since there are imponderables here, one cannot say when the upswing will come, said the AMS boss.
530,000 unemployed, 460,000 on short-time work
460,000 people are currently on short-time work and 530,000 are unemployed. Unemployment will fall in March compared to the previous year. But not because the upswing is already here, but because the first lockdown last year caused poor labor market data, according to Kopf.
In order to get as many people as possible to work again when things are finally going up economically, qualification measures are necessary.
Due to homeschooling, with which many children and young people do not get along so well, there is a risk that the number of poorly qualified unemployed young people will rise, according to Kopf. He would rather not repeat the entire school year “from the feeling”. There are too many for that who can cope adequately with the school situation. “Repeating a year would also mean zero apprentices.”
With regard to the apprenticeship gap of a good 3,000 young people who cannot find an apprenticeship position, Kopf said that they are covered by the inter-company training network.
Higher unemployment benefits?
With regard to the long-term unemployed, Kopf pleaded for a model that should be similar to the former “Aktion 20,000” – a hobbyhorse of ex-SPÖ Chancellor Christian Kern – but not too similar. Among other things, on the one hand, the public sector should not bear 100 percent of the wage costs. In addition, the public funds should not only come from the AMS but also from tax revenues.
Kopf wants to discuss the increase in unemployment benefits demanded by parts of the opposition, rather than breaking it during the crisis. Basically, an increase is necessary. However, the payment cannot simply be increased – to around 70 percent of the final salary. “Low-wage earners in particular get up to 80 percent,” said Kopf.
If you pay 70 percent and can continue to earn up to 470 euros in addition to unemployment benefits, the result is “an amount that corresponds to almost full-time employment and we have a problem with the incentive to work. The incentive must be retained, so we have to discuss it more extensively.” For now, the AMS boss can imagine another one-off payment to the unemployed in the corona crisis.
