📋 Tender Overview
Labor Minister Kocher said in the plenary session that the current situation on the labor market is very good overall after all unemployment has been the lowest since 2011. Even in 2015 and 2016 long before the corona or economic crisis there were 90000 to 100000 more people in Austria than now been registered as unemployed. The vacancies would show extreme dynamism on the labor market said Kocher who expects unemployment to continue to fall in the coming months especially since the corona measures would be withdrawn step by step. Corona short-time work for example will expire at the end of March although companies that still need it afterwards can switch to normal short-time work. According to Kocher 185000 people are currently pre-registered for short-time work primarily as a safeguard against the omicron wave. However the Minister of Labor assumes that many of these advance notifications will not be settled.The challenges on the labor market are structural Labor Minister Kocher outlined the labor market policy problems independent of the pandemic. Almost 50 of the unemployed have no education beyond the compulsory school leaving certificate which is why offers of upskilling and requalification are important. At the same time he appealed to companies to give the long-term unemployed a new chance. The Spring Board Program launched by the government to reintegrate the rural unemployed into the labor market is helping. After all many companies for example in tourism or the event industry are struggling with an extreme shortage of skilled workers as a result of the uncertainties of the pandemic.In principle Kocher believes that both companies and politicians have a duty to create more attractive framework conditions for skilled workers. This included positive incentives for more regional mobility a better work-life balance and health promotion for older workers.
