Current economic output eight percent below the previous year's level
For the first time since Christmas 2020, the number of people in Austria without work has fallen below the 500,000 mark. The ÖVP ministers Martin Kocher, Gernot Blümel and Margarete Schramböck announced this on Tuesday in a press conference at the Federal Chancellery. Currently around 490,000 people are registered as unemployed or in AMS training. The Public Employment Service itself reported 509,000 unemployed as of February 28th.
According to the government, the number of short-time workers has also decreased. Around 478,000 people are currently registered for short-time work, 7,000 fewer than in the previous week. The ministers spoke of a positive trend. The economic output estimated by Wifo is currently only 8 percent below the previous year's value, and no longer at a minus of 13 percent, as at the end of the hard lockdown. However, the recovery will be weaker than after the first lockdown in spring 2020.
According to Finance Minister Blümel, 84 million euros of the 204 million euros applied for so far were paid out for the default bonus. To date there have been a total of 29,299 applications. Accordingly, the average sum per application is just under 7,000 euros.
