Over 520,000 people are currently registered as unemployed in Austria. That is why the call for a bridging allowance for those affected is loud.
“Anyone who has worked their whole life and then becomes unemployed must not become a petitioner,” says Ingrid Reischl, senior secretary of the ÖGB with regard to the high unemployment figures in Austria. That is why the ÖGB is not only renewing its appeal for an increase in unemployment benefits to 70 percent, but also for a special measure for the long-term unemployed.
Reischl demands a bridging allowance in the amount of 70 percent net replacement rate for everyone who is unemployed, has little or no employment prospects and is a maximum of five years before retirement. In any case, the situation is dramatic: With ten unemployed people on one vacancy, “it is not possible that everyone can find a job quickly,” says Reischl.
Therefore, according to the ÖGB woman, the expired regulation on increased emergency aid must be continued at least until the middle of the year. The number of training participants, however, would hardly increase, which is why they once again demand the installation of “real labor foundations” and the creation of jobs. For the ÖGB it is also worrying that the number of unemployed women has risen by 42 percent, twice as much as that of men.
