The unemployment rate is 11 percent, doubling the unemployment rate in tourism compared to the previous year.
The corona crisis has been determining the situation on the labor market for over ten months. The number of unemployed and training participants at the end of December was almost 28 percent higher than in the same month last year. 520,919 were registered as unemployed or in training, which is 113,047 more than a year ago. For the first time there will be more than 500,000 unemployed in winter 2020/2021.
The corona-related peak was reached in mid-April with 588,000 job seekers. According to the Public Employment Service (AMS), the unemployment rate in Austria in December was 11 percent, which was 2.5 percentage points higher than in December 2019. The number of employees fell by 1.4 percent to 3.716 million compared to the same month last year, according to a forecast back. The number of immediately available jobs fell by 22.7 percent to 50,610. The number of people on short-time work rose by 140,000 compared to the previous month. According to the Ministry of Labor, 417,113 people are currently on short-time work.
“At the end of December 2020, the lack of a start to the season in winter tourism has a clear impact on the unemployment caused by the crisis,” said Labor Minister Christine Aschbacher (ÖVP) in a broadcast on Monday. “Together with the seasonal effects in construction, which are within the usual framework, the situation on the labor market is currently extremely challenging,” said the Minister of Labor. “The most difficult year on the labor market for decades is saying goodbye with really bad unemployment figures,” said AMS board member Johannes Kopf, commenting on the current figures. The third lockdown leads to a more than doubling of unemployment in gastronomy and tourism compared to the previous year.
