Finance

Statistically, Vienna is the only federal state in which there are too few apprenticeships.

The apprenticeship market is swept empty. Not just since Corona, but to a greater extent since the outbreak of the pandemic. The entrepreneurs are not to blame, says Renate Scheichelbauer-Schuster, spokeswoman for the commercial and craft enterprises in the Chamber of Commerce. Almost every second of the approximately 100,000 apprentices nationwide comes from their branch.

“It is not the apprenticeships that are missing, but the applicants,” says the industry spokeswoman. At the end of February 2021, there were more than 10,000 more vacant apprenticeships than applicants.

Statistically, Vienna is the only federal state in which there are too few apprenticeships. In Upper Austria and in the west of the country in particular, trainers have traditionally found it difficult to find suitable candidates. Scheichelbauer-Schuster appeals to interested young people: “Please apply now and don't wait until summer. The earlier, the better prepared you are. “

Skilled labor shortage

An appeal that is no accident. This is because companies have to adjust to the worsening shortage of skilled workers as a result of the vacant positions. Companies report that the number of applicants has halved in the past year. “It is often difficult or even impossible to find suitable apprentices,” says Mariana Kühnel, deputy general secretary in the WKO. As in the past, trade and tourism are particularly affected.

Incidentally, an extension of the apprentice bonus is not currently being considered, announced Minister of Economics Margarete Schramböck this week. Around 50 million euros have been paid out and 25,000 apprenticeship places have been secured. The problem of a lack of apprenticeship places is a selective one in Vienna, in all other federal states there are too few apprentices, so the argumentation.

To support young people in choosing a career, the WKÖ has introduced so-called talent checks, which are used by 70 percent of schools and 8th grade students across Austria. Last year around 65,000 students took part in the tests.

The group wants to accelerate the transition to a software-driven mobility provider.

While its e-cars are gradually rolling, the VW Group is increasingly focusing on the associated software and the development of mobility services. The group's main brand VW announced on Friday that it wanted to accelerate the transition to a technology company that will also have self-driving cars on offer across the range of models in the next decade.

In this way, the world's second largest car manufacturer after Toyota wants to keep tech giants such as Apple, Google and Amazon at a distance, which are penetrating the traditional business of the automotive industry. “E-mobility was just the beginning, the real disruption is still to come,” said brand boss Ralf Brandstätter. Volkswagen will change so much in the coming years as never before.

iPad on wheels

Data-based business models, with which Volkswagen intends to earn money in the future, are playing an increasingly important role. “We can imagine adding three-digit million amounts to our coffers in the next few years,” said Sales Director Klaus Zellmer during a video conference on the presentation of the “Accelerate” strategy.

Users should be able to activate additional functions in their vehicles via the Internet, such as booking a longer battery range or buying certain navigation services. The car is thus becoming a kind of “iPad on wheels” that is always online.

Subscription models

As experts believe that having one's own car is becoming less important, car sharing, driving services and subscription models are set to gain in importance. VW is already working on leasing cars for a basic fee and an additional mileage allowance. The software of the constantly growing e-car fleet is to be regularly updated via the Internet (over the air).

Volkswagen wants to build a neural network of interconnected vehicles that continuously exchange data – for example on the traffic situation, obstacles or accidents. This should make navigation systems more accurate and autonomous driving safer. In just two years, a fully networked fleet of over half a million vehicles should be on the road.

operating system

Volkswagen is developing the operating system for the e-cars, the heart on which the various services are based. There are no plans to cooperate with other manufacturers. In the future, software will be of central importance because the business models are based on it, emphasized Brandstätter.

“If you put that into a third hand, you can no longer design these business models yourself.” Other manufacturers such as Ford or the Stellantis group merged from Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler work together with Google.

New models

At the same time, VW wants to continue to accelerate in electromobility. The share of pure e-cars in sales is expected to rise to over 70 percent in Europe by 2030. That is twice as much as previously planned. In China and the USA, the group is aiming for more than 50 percent in the same period. At least one new e-model should hit the road every year.

The all-wheel drive electric SUV ID.4 GTX is due to hit the streets in the first half of the year, followed by the ID.5 in the second half of the year. The seven-seater ID.6 X electric SUV for the Chinese market will be on the program for autumn.

main business

At the same time, the models with combustion engines are also being further developed because this is still the main business. All core models such as the Golf, Tiguan, Passat, Tayron and T-Roc are to have a successor – before the last combustion platform is launched at VW in 2026.

The VW brand alone is investing around 16 billion euros in e-mobility, hybrid drives and digitization within five years. To finance this, the car manufacturer wants to reduce fixed costs by five percent by 2023. The productivity of the plants is expected to increase by five percent a year, and material costs to decrease by seven percent.

All regions should be in the black for the long term. In South America and the USA, Volkswagen is aiming for breakeven this year. Brandstätter confirmed the return target of at least six percent before special items (2019: 4.3) percent set for the year after next.

Plus in tech classes that include face masks and protective clothing

The corona pandemic is inhibiting the inventive spirit in German companies. The German Patent and Trademark Office reported on Friday a significant decrease in patent applications of almost eight percent in the past year. A total of 62,105 inventions were registered for patent, 5,327 fewer than in 2019. According to the German authorities, there were similar declines in other patent offices in large industrialized countries such as Japan and the USA.

The decline in auto technology and other branches of industry such as mechanical engineering is noticeable. In the “Transport” area – which is traditionally at the top of the patent statistics – registrations fell by 16.6 percent to 10,758. However, there was an increase in connection with electric vehicles, such as batteries and fuel cells. The three companies with the most registrations still belong to the automotive industry: The suppliers Bosch and Schaeffler came in first and second, followed by BMW.

In other areas, the pandemic clearly promoted the willingness to innovate. In medical technology there was reportedly 2,883 registrations, an increase of over ten percent. In the technology classes, which include face masks and protective clothing, registrations increased fivefold. “The pandemic has led to extensive economic damage, but has strongly stimulated economic activity in some special sectors,” said Cornelia Rudloff-Schäffer, head of the authorities.

On the occasion of International Women's Day on March 8, Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen and First Lady Doris Schmidauer made a virtual invitation to the Hofburg this time because of the corona pandemic. On Friday morning, the hosts were happy to see around 600 participants in their online event entitled “On stage. On track. On the situation of women”. Van der Bellen reminded them that Women's Day is “not just a woman's business”, but concerns both sexes.

Image: APA

The equality of the two sexes is a “matter of women and men”, said the Federal President: “We all have to take a closer look”. Discrimination not only harms those who are discriminated against, but also those who discriminate, he referred to empirical data that showed that companies were also more successful economically. “We need cooperation on an equal footing,” warned the head of state.

The Federal President wistfully recalled the women's day last year, which was still physically celebrated with numerous participants in the presidential office. You have greeted acquaintances and made contacts. Nevertheless, he is pleased with the large number of spectators, “yes, there are men too”. Among other things, Van der Bellen welcomed Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner (ÖVP), ex-Chancellor Brigitte Bierlein, State Secretary for Art and Culture Andrea Mayer (Greens) and NEOS boss Beate Meinl-Reisinger as well as the women spokespersons of the parliamentary parties, numerous regional councilors and mayors.

Doris Schmidauer also recalled the “atmospheric pictures from last year” and that “especially women” felt the effects of the corona crisis on their own bodies. Women were often affected by the multiple burdens of work, home office, distance learning and caring for relatives. The “gap between women and men” in business and education is still large. And even during the crisis, most of the experts who spoke were men, said Schmidauer. Women keep the country going, but it is still mainly explained by men. Therefore, cohesion is needed: “Together we are strong.”

Three experts provided impetus. One of them, Yvonne Magwas, chairwoman of the group of women in the CDU / CSU parliamentary group, which was switched on via video from Berlin and reported on the efforts in Germany to get more women on supervisory and executive boards. It is gratifying that the discussion alone has resulted in companies increasingly looking for women for management positions. Admittedly, the quota is “just an instrument”, just as important is the compatibility of family and work or “the right to maternity protection for women on the board”. In general, family responsibility must be possible in spite of or with a leadership position.

Author and journalist Ingrid Brodnig pointed out that “traditional gender roles” also played a role in the digital age. As an example, she cited language assistance systems, many of which not only have a female name and a female voice, but also fulfill classic gender stereotypes. There are also studies showing that speech recognition software understands women's voices more poorly. One of the reasons for this is that they were trained with audio recordings of male voices. “Products for men are often designed as the norm,” says Brodnig. However, technology must be geared more towards feminist aspects. The question arises, “What can be done to make the Internet more feminist?” Asked Brodnig.

Cultural and gender researcher Beatrice Frasl postulated that mental health is also a feminist issue. Because cash-funded psychotherapy is contingent, at the same time women suffered “twice as often from depression as men”, which is due not least to the fact that socio-economic circumstances such as being affected and at risk of poverty, social exclusion, atypical employment relationships, from which women are more often affected, are risk factors for such diseases are. The corona crisis intensified that again. Frasl therefore called on politicians to “significantly improve access to psychotherapy”.

The futurezone readers have decided: Here are the results of our camera blind test.

Finding the best smartphone camera is not that easy: test results from camera specialists are one thing. The eyes of the viewer and the quick choice of which picture looks better are the other thing.

With this in mind, we created a camera blind test at the end of February and let our futurezone readers vote on which photo they like better at first glance – without revealing which smartphones they are.

So which cell phones were the photos taken with? The answer: The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and iPhone 12 Pro Max. Both devices are among the absolute top devices, each costing around 1,300 euros.

Over 1,000 futurezone readers voted and thus ensured relatively clear results. It should be mentioned that the photos were heavily downscaled when they were uploaded to the voting tool and the quality of the images suffered as a result. But now to the results.

The chandelier

The photos of the chandelier on a ceiling are very different. The result is all the more clear: 77 percent of the votes went to the iPhone photo, only 23 percent went to the Samsung photo.

The result is not surprising either. The photo that was taken with the Galaxy S21 Ultra does not really reproduce the colors correctly. The iPhone 12 Pro Max hits them much better. The details of the iPhone also come across much better.

recorded in standard mode

At dusk

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra hit the train tracks better when it got dark. Here 53 percent opted for the Samsung picture, 47 percent voted for the iPhone photo.

What is striking about these pictures is that Samsung is trying significantly more to create the mood of the twilight, while the iPhone is apparently more focused on reproducing the scenery.

recorded in night mode

The alley at night

A quick look at the pictures suggests 2 very similar photos. If you take a closer look, the differences become clear. The result was similarly clear: The iPhone prevailed here with 73 to 27 percent.

In the Samsung photo, the colors are a bit washed out in the center of the image. In contrast, the iPhone picture is much stronger in color. When it comes to details, there are only minor differences between the two images.

recorded in night mode

Colors in artificial light

The result is similarly clear with the artificial still life. 34 percent of the vote went to the Samsung picture, 66 percent opted for the iPhone photo.

The iPhone has a clear advantage, especially when it comes to the details in the area of the blue plug and the structure of the couch. In the Samsung photo, the details in these areas are quite blurred.

recorded in standard mode

Panorama in wide angle

Here, too, the result is more than clear. However, in reverse order: 73 percent went to the Samsung picture, 27 percent to the iPhone.

The iPhone's wide-angle camera apparently has slight weaknesses here, which can be seen in almost all areas of the photo – especially towards the edges of the image. Although the Samsung image is sharpened a lot, it creates a much better photo.

taken with the wide-angle camera

Park at night

Another very clear result: even in the night photo in the park, the iPhone 12 Pro Max clearly prevails against the Samsung Galaxy S21 with 64 to 36 percent.

As with the previous night photo in the alley, the Samsung image shows a weakness in the center of the image. The colors here are a bit washed out again and not really nicely saturated. The iPhone photo has a slightly too high color temperature, but it can still reproduce the scenery better.

recorded in night mode

Conclusion

The result of the blind test is clear: With 4 photos, the iPhone 12 Pro Max prevailed against the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. For one photo, the result was pretty even, and for one, the Samsung phone received the majority of the votes.

Compared to other smartphones, both devices have an impressive night mode. However, the iPhone is able to reproduce the scenery better – at least in the example photos.

Even in the interior with artificial light, the iPhone is ahead of the Samsung cell phone. The Apple mobile phone clearly delivers better pictures here.

The wide angle seems to be the major weak point of the iPhone 12 Pro Max. Because the panorama photo has become much better with the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra than with the Apple mobile phone.

In the scandal of allegedly non-Austrian FFP2 masks from the manufacturer “Hygiene Austria”, calls for consequences are growing louder. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) saw no political misconduct on Friday, but the opposition judged very differently. For SPÖ and NEOS, for example, it is dubious why the company was shortlisted for mask procurement for senior citizens. The FPÖ demanded new elections.

Image: APA

Kurz, who himself had visited the Lenzing and Palmers joint venture, answered journalists' questions as to whether he too had been duped: “If there is fraud here, then we have all been betrayed.” Hygiene Austria has supplied large private customers such as supermarkets in Austria. The Federal Procurement Agency also bought from the company, but the Federal Chancellery itself did not. Kurz said that he therefore saw no political responsibility, but demanded “full clarification”.

The investigation is being carried out by the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor's Office (WKStA), which Kurz and the ÖVP had massively attacked in recent weeks because of the house search of Finance Minister Gernot Blümel (ÖVP). The cause has a political dimension due to the fact that the company's managing director is a relative of the office manager of Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP).

SPÖ vice club boss Jörg Leichtfried saw according to recent media reports “a number of questionable incidents” around Hygiene Austria. Why was the company even considered for supplying FFP2 masks for seniors despite the higher price, he asked in a broadcast. He also wanted to know whether there was an attempt by the federal government to give priority to Hygiene Austria when awarding the contract and whether there was a connection with the personal relationship between company management and the Chancellor's environment.

Leichtfried referred to a report by “profil” (online), according to which the “65+” project had been discussed in the Council of Ministers in November, but the corresponding Ministerial Council lecture was not published. During the preliminary discussions, Hygiene Austria was the only Austrian provider to sit at the (virtual) table.

According to “profil” in the Council of Ministers itself no determination of the provenance of the FFP2 masks would have been made – according to a letter from a top official to the head of the cabinet of Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens), it would have been “clearly communicated on the edge” that “the The federal government would like to procure Austrian companies / products in this project “. In the end, however, because of the significant price difference, it was not Hygiene Austria that came into play, but an Austrian dealer with CE-certified goods from China.

The SPÖ and NEOS also want to address the issue of Hygiene Austria in the “small committee of inquiry” on procurement policy in the corona pandemic next week. NEOS club chief vice Nikolaus Scherak identified a “comprehensive transparency problem” at a press conference.

For the FPÖ, the scandal is a reason for a political change. In a broadcast, party leader Norbert Hofer described a new election for the National Council as “overdue” because: “The Austrian federal government shares responsibility.” The cause around Hygiene Austria also seems to be a “large-scale fraud on the taxpayers' backs”.

It became known on Friday that Parliament had obtained 23,000 Hygiene Austria masks for around 32,000 euros. The President of the National Council, Wolfgang Sobotka (ÖVP), instructed the Parliamentary Directorate to conduct a legal review of all claims that could be asserted against the manufacturer, it said.

Low-threshold entry tests would again enable more spontaneous haircutting, without great effort for coordinating appointments.

A quarter of Austrians have visited a hairdresser in the first two weeks since the opening after the hard lockdown – men were more in a hurry to cut their hair than women. This was the result of a market survey on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce. The majority – 58 percent – consider the mandatory submission of a negative corona test result to be useful. The hairdressing industry now also wants free quick tests on site.

It's about the incentive: With low-threshold entry tests, spontaneous hairdressing appointments would be possible again, says the hairdressing guild. The time-consuming juggling with appointments would be superfluous. It would also help those salons that are losing a lot of their sales due to the lack of walk-in customers.

Too much effort

Because 43 percent of the thousand respondents said it was too much effort for them to do a corona test especially because of a visit to the hairdresser. According to the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, a clear two-thirds majority of 68 percent (fully / rather) were in favor of free quick tests directly at the hairdresser's.

For the federal master of hairdressers in the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, Wolfgang Eder, the survey shows the need to carry out a free quick test directly at the hairdresser's – according to the motto test, cut, blow-dry. “We know that the vast majority of the population is behind us.” Of course, reliability must also be guaranteed with quick tests on site, which could be “nose bur tests” under supervision or self-tests with an app solution.

Covid Measures Act is being revised. FFP2 mask or nasal drill tests desired as an alternative.

Similar to medical staff or the students who have to (have) regularly tested for Corona, there should also be test obligations in retail. Specifically for commercial employees in the shop, with customer contact. So far it has been the case that trade employees either have to present a negative test result once a week or have to wear an FFP2 mask. Anyone who had a negative test result in their pocket was allowed to wear normal mouth and nose protection.

Now this option no longer appears in the new legal text. The trade representatives are critical of the changes planned by the Ministry of Health in the amendment to the Covid-19 Measures Act and the “mandatory testing without alternative” contained therein. The Chamber of Commerce and the Trade Association want mask-wearing to be retained as an alternative.

App solutions

Should the government stick to its plan and prescribe compulsory testing for all trade employees with customer contact, the trade association will at least require approval of nose picker self-tests as valid evidence. These nose piercing tests could then be carried out in the branches. App solutions can also be imagined in the Chamber of Commerce.

A (missing) short passage in the new legal text is currently causing irritation in the industry. In the draft of Section 1 (5c) of the Covid-19 Measures Act, there is no obligation to provide for the wearing of an FFP2 mask in a corresponding ordinance as an alternative to proving that there is only a low epidemiological risk.

Find a replacement

The trade association and the chamber can continue to live with the previous regulation during the corona crisis. If, however, testing is compulsory, then in the companies – as in schools – the “nose drill tests” should be able to be used as valid, the association believes.

These self-tests are now also being given in pharmacies. Otherwise, a replacement worker would have to be deployed, especially for small businesses, when employees have to go to test stations during working hours. This can no longer be financed for the companies, some of which have been badly hit by the Corona crisis. “With 330,000 employees in the retail trade, this is an economic and political supergame,” as the trade association fears.

Proven protection

“Wearing FFP2 protective masks in retail as an alternative to testing has proven itself,” says Rainer Trefelik, chairman of the federal trade division of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce (WKÖ). Wearing FFP2 masks must remain an alternative to testing. Should this alternative fall away, retailers, especially in rural areas, would encounter the difficulty of a lack of test capacities.

If there is no alternative to compulsory testing, the Chamber of Commerce wants self-tests to be recognized, including with 'living room tests' under supervision or as a self-test with an app solution as confirmation.

This is intended to settle the legal dispute with the four companies.

Isar 2 is Germany's most powerful nuclear power plant

The German government is paying the Akw operators a good 2.4 billion euros for the nuclear phase-out ten years ago. The federal government announced on Friday that the legal dispute with the four companies will be resolved.

The government is thus implementing a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court from 2016 that awarded companies compensation payments for residual electricity volumes and investments. Vattenfall is to receive 1.425 billion euros, RWE 880 million, EnBW around 80 million and E.ON 42.5 million euros.

Withdraw complaints

In return, the companies would withdraw lawsuits and terminate lawsuits. That includes Vattenfall's billion-dollar lawsuit before the International Court of Arbitration in Washington, the ministries for the environment, economics and finance said. The regulations are to be cast in legal form and implemented, if possible, in 2021. However, the company's committees still have to agree. The same applies to the EU Commission.

After the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan in 2011, the federal government at the time decided to accelerate the nuclear phase-out. Older reactors were shut down early. The Constitutional Court had ruled this to be lawful. provided the corporations were compensated.

According to the national manufacturer association CAAM: minus 42% in January

The Chinese car market also saw a significant kink in February because of the New Year celebrations in the country. The minus compared to the previous month amounts to 42 percent on 1.45 million vehicles sold, as the manufacturers association CAAM (China Association of Automobile Manufacturers) announced on Friday in Beijing on the basis of preliminary figures.

In a year-on-year comparison, the world's largest car market, which is also by far the most important individual market for the German groups Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW, recovered significantly. A year ago, according to CAAM data, only 310,000 vehicles were sold to dealers – the outbreak of the corona pandemic caused the market to collapse almost completely.

The recovery of the market then picked up speed significantly from mid-2020. Since then, the sales figures have been clearly positive again compared to the previous year, with the growth in January being particularly strong. But that was also due to the fact that the New Year festival 2020 fell at the end of January.

The manufacturers association CAAM measures the sales of the car manufacturers to the dealers and not to the end customers. In contrast, the industry association PCA (China Passenger Car Association) measures sales by dealers to end customers and includes cars, SUVs and light commercial vehicles. PCA had already announced February sales of 1.19 million vehicles in the middle of the week, without giving comparative values and further details.