Unemployment in Austria continues to rise. A total of over 520,000 people are currently registered as unemployed with the AMS.
The monthly balance of the unemployment figures in December shows that the crisis-related unemployment is currently around 113,000 unemployed and has thus increased compared to the previous month. A total of 607,704 people were able to get back into employment in 2020.
At the same time, the corona-related global economic crisis, combined with seasonal effects, has a massively noticeable impact on the labor market.
A total of 520,919 people are currently registered as unemployed with the AMS or are in training. This is an increase of 63,722 people compared to the previous month, which is primarily due to the seasonal fluctuations in the construction sector. The number of people registered as unemployed with the AMS is 459,682, and 61,237 are currently in training.
In an industry comparison, tourism (73,434) with + 41,118 job seekers, trade (60,442) with + 13,943 job seekers and the construction sector (57,396) with a relatively low increase of 5,714 people compared to the previous year are currently affected.
There are currently 113,047 more people unemployed or in training than in the previous year at this time. The rise in crisis-related unemployment is mainly due to the lack of a start to the tourism season.
According to the national definition, the unemployment rate is currently eleven percent. That is an increase of 2.5 percentage points year-on-year. In an EU comparison of the last available values, Austria is above the pre-crisis level of 4.4 percent with an unemployment rate of 5.4 percent. At the same time, Austria is one of the top 3 countries in the field of youth employment with the lowest youth unemployment within the European Union.
With a youth unemployment rate of 8.6 percent, Austria is in third place at EU level and below the pre-crisis level (9.2 percent). The number of people on short-time work has also increased by 140,000 compared to the previous month. 417,113 people are currently on short-time work.
At the same time, the increase makes it clear that the Corona short-time work is being used and is an important crisis instrument to secure jobs. In 2020, with the help of Corona short-time work, over 1.1 million jobs and incomes were secured.
A total of around 5.5 billion euros have been paid out for Corona short-time work so far. 9.9 billion euros are currently approved. Phase 3 of the Corona short-time work runs until the end of March. By adjusting the Corona short-time work, there is still the possibility of reducing working hours to 0 percent for the companies directly affected by the lockdown and their employees.
The 2021 budget for short-time working permits will be increased to 5 billion due to the increasing demand. From the current point of view, the payments due to the actual lost hours will again be significantly below the approved amount after the accounts have been made.
