Care and childcare are to be expanded and jobs created for the long-term unemployed.
The Chamber of Labor (AK) calls for a job offensive by the public sector. The state has a responsibility to fight the record unemployment of over half a million unemployed. Jobs in nursing and childcare are to be created, for the long-term unemployed, social and ecological jobs should be created in the communities.
Help for the long-term unemployed
The AK has developed a model for this, the “Chance45”. More than 40,000 jobs are to be created for people who have a particularly difficult time in the labor market – for example older long-term unemployed.
In an online discussion on Friday, AK expert Sybille Pirklbauer said that the state had to intervene more strongly and create jobs in the worst labor market crisis of the Second Republic. It is a catastrophe that at the age of 45 you are already partially driven out of the labor market.
There are many employment opportunities in the communities that would add value, such as looking after the elderly and sick, setting up a shared taxi or a repair center. With the AK job initiative, a lot of the money invested would come back, there would be net costs of around 300 million euros.
More efficiency in administration
AMS board member Johannes Kopf, on the other hand, said that at 45 years of age there is still a chance in the labor market in Austria, it only becomes difficult from the age of 50 or 55. The situation for the long-term unemployed is problematic because companies no longer invite them to an interview, so a public employment program makes perfect sense for them.
On the one hand, the state must pay attention to the efficiency of state administration, so it should not employ more people than necessary. On the other hand, a job program would be a socio-political measure if the state took on new tasks, such as better care for old people.
ÖGB women's chairwoman Korinna Schumann called for an expansion of all-day childcare, which would create more opportunities for women. Childcare should be available for every child from the age of one so that parents can work full-time.
That would be an economic stimulus program and would strengthen the regions, but also give the children the best possible early childhood education. “Now would be the time for a legal right to a childcare place,” said Schumann. The welfare state is the real “hero of the crisis” and now it has to be strengthened.
Improve working conditions
The AK also wants a care offensive: By 2030, 76,000 additional care workers are needed to maintain the current care. The AK has proposed a care package that should create 39,000 jobs. According to AMS board member Kopf, Austria has so far compensated for the shortage of nurses with foreign nurses.
However, the public sector could improve working conditions, raise wages and create more training opportunities; then care would also be an attractive labor market in Germany.
The business journalist Angela Sellner from the daily newspaper “Österreich” referred to the problem of high unemployment for the economy as a whole. “When we have more employees, consumption starts again,” she said. Because the unemployed do not spend any money, no matter how long the shops are open.
Companies are being helped a lot, and unemployment must now also be actively combated. “The economy will not be able to recover if half a million people are out of work.” After the short-time work expires, there is a risk of further job cuts.
