01. 07. 10. - 15:00

Unemployment rate declines

Social Democratic (SPÖ) Labour Minister Rudolf Hundstorfer reported signs of recovery from the job front today (Thurs).

The minister announced new figures showed that the number of unemployed people declined by 7.3 per cent last month compared to June 2009 to 212,753.

This figure however does not consider the more than 284,000 jobless Austrians sitting controversial re-education courses provided by the Labour Market Services (AMS). Opposition leaders have claimed some of the offered courses were "pointless" and a "waste of taxpayers’ money".

Around 3.31 million people had work in Austria last month, up by one per cent year on year, while the number of vacant positions soared dramatically from June 2009 to last month by 26.1 per cent to 33,982.

Hundstorfer explained the number of men out of work shrunk by 11.6 per cent year on year. This figure seems to confirm that the country’s industrial sector – which mostly employs men – is recovering thanks to state aid and part-time regimes.

The number of unemployed people aged between 15 and 24 declined strongly too with a 10.1 per cent improvement from June of last year to last month, while 1.7 per cent less women were out of work in June 2010 than in the same month of last year.

Styria had the strongest year on year decline in jobless rates among Austria’s nine provinces with a 16.9 per cent improvement followed by Salzburg (minus 16.4 per cent).

The situation in federal capital Vienna meanwhile remains tense as AMS officials registered a 0.8 per cent year on year decline in the city.

Hundstorfer said he saw good chances for the jobless rate to decline year on year in 2010 – after predictions that 20,000 more people will be out of work this year than in 2009.

But the minister appealed: "The crisis is not over yet. These figures must not be regarded as a signal for an ‘effective’ recovery."

Speaking about cuts his ministry is forced to make over the next years in the governments bid to slash the state debt, Hundstorfer stressed: "We will spend less on AMS courses next year, but not 100 million Euros less as it has been rumoured."

AMS boss Johannes Kopf already announced earlier this week that he expected almost all jobs that were lost during the credit crunch to emerge again by the end of next year.

Kopf said around 45,000 positions were erased by the effects of the global economic downturn in 2008 and 2009. He predicted that Austrian companies will have managed to recreate around half of them by the end of this year, with the rest to follow in late 2011.

Kopf’s estimation would mean that the number of employed people in the country will soar from 3.31 millions last month to 3.278 millions.

Austria has the second-lowest jobless rate among the European Union’s (EU) 27 members after the Netherlands.

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