Women are more affected than men by the rise in unemployment – especially in rural areas. This is shown by labor market data evaluated by OGM and APA. According to this, almost 70,000 women are looking for jobs in rural communities – 65 percent more than a year ago. For men, the increase in rural areas is “only” 28 percent. The AMS cites industry differences as reasons, but also suspects that women are often counted among the “marginal workforce” and are first given notice.
Image: APA
Almost 437,000 people were looking for jobs throughout Austria in February – 103,000 more than in the previous year. Overall, there are still more men than women unemployed. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, women have clearly caught up: The number of women without a job has risen by 40 percent since February 2020 (to 186,740), that of unemployed men “only” by a quarter (to 250,242).
The crisis hit women in rural areas particularly hard (). Because in rural communities, two thirds more women are currently unemployed than before the outbreak of the pandemic. The plus of 65 percent is more than twice as large as in the cities, where there are 29 percent more unemployed women. For men, the data also show an urban-rural divide, but with a plus of 28 percent in rural areas and plus 23 percent in cities, it is significantly less steep.
Part of the explanation is that many women work in industries that are severely suffering from the lockdown: commerce, personal services, and tourism. Johannes Klotz from OGM points out that 58 percent of the workforce in accommodation and hospitality are women. Accordingly, unemployment has risen particularly sharply in rural tourism communities: twice as much for men and four times as much for women.
The head of the executive office in the Public Employment Service (AMS), Marius Wilk, also refers to the consequences of lockdown and travel restrictions, especially in the country: “Tourism is striking hard.” But he suspects a second reason behind the gender gap. Because the industry differences alone are not enough to explain the trend. “Even controlled by industry, female unemployment has risen significantly more than that of men,” says Wilk. He sees signs that companies are firing women first in economic crises: “It should look like the women's jobs in many companies are assigned to the 'marginal workforce' and the men to the 'core workforce'.” In his opinion, one reason for this could be the higher proportion of women working part-time.
Speaking of part-time work: because women generally earn less, unemployment benefits are also lower for them. On average, men receive 33 euros per day for unemployed people or unemployment assistance, women receive 28.50 euros – that is, almost 5 euros per day or up to 142 euros per month less.
It remains to be seen how quickly the labor market will ease again after the end of the pandemic. If the expected increase in corporate bankruptcies should occur, a long-term loss of jobs is also to be feared, says Marius Wilk from the AMS. And Johannes Klotz from OGM refers to the importance of tourism for rural areas. After all, the employment opportunities there are a major reason why the emigration of women in Austria – unlike in rural regions in Eastern Germany – has so far been prevented.
