Vienna – The Corona crisis has been determining the situation on the labor market for over ten months. The number of unemployed and training participants at the end of December was almost 28 percent higher than at the end of 2019. 520,919 were registered as unemployed or in training, which is 113,047 more than a year ago. For the first time there will be more than 500,000 unemployed in winter 2020/2021.

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The corona-related peak was reached in mid-April with 588,000 job seekers. According to the Public Employment Service (AMS), the unemployment rate in Austria was 11 percent in December, which was 2.5 percentage points higher than in December 2019. The number of employees fell by 1.4 percent to 3.716 million, according to a forecast. The number of immediately available jobs shrank by 22.7 percent to 50,610.

The number of people on short-time work rose by 140,000 compared to the previous month. According to the Ministry of Labor, 417,113 people are currently on short-time work. So far, the AMS has paid out around 5.5 billion euros for Corona short-time work. 9.9 billion euros are currently approved.

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Aschbacher: The job market is dynamic despite the crisis

“At the end of December 2020, the lack of a start to the season in winter tourism has a clear impact on crisis-related unemployment,” said Labor Minister Christine Aschbacher (ÖVP) in a broadcast on Monday currently enormously challenging on the job market. ” Aschbacher also referred to bright spots on the job market. “Last year we were able to place 607,704 people again, which is 1 percent more than in 2019.” This shows how dynamic the job market is despite the crisis.

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“The most difficult year on the job market for decades is saying goodbye with really bad unemployment figures,” said AMS board member Johannes Kopf on the current figures. The third lockdown leads to more than doubling of unemployment in gastronomy and tourism compared to the previous year. “The apparently obvious one The conclusion that short-time work does not work in this industry is wrong, “said the AMS boss. With almost 100,000 employees on short-time work, tourism is currently the front runner in all industries when it comes to “saving jobs”.

At the end of December, 79,584 people in the hotel and catering industry were out of work, an increase of almost 114 percent compared to the end of 2019. The increase in unemployed people and training participants was also high in other industries, in transport and storage (+41.5 percent), health and safety Social affairs (+22.6 percent) and in the manufacture of goods (+21.7 percent). The rise in unemployment in construction and leasing was significantly lower, at 11.1 percent each.

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Strongest increase in unemployed in Tyrol

The labor market development differs greatly according to the federal states. The lowest increase in unemployment and training participants at the end of December compared to the end of 2019 was in Lower Austria (+15.1 percent), Burgenland (+16.0 percent), Upper Austria (+16.9 percent), Styria (+21 percent) , Carinthia (+21.2 percent) and Vienna (+22.6 percent). The increase was significantly stronger in Vorarlberg (+48.2 percent), Salzburg (+82.6 percent) and Tyrol (+129.5 percent).

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Across Austria, many unemployed people spend a long time looking for a job. The number of long-term unemployed at the end of December was 136,620, an increase of 37.3 percent over the previous year.

The labor market service also published the annual average unemployment on Monday morning. In 2020 as a whole, there were 466,746 unemployed and training participants, an increase of 28.5 percent compared to 2019. “Even if light is already on the horizon, this crisis is not over yet,” said AMS board member Kopf. “Many problems, such as this in particular Rising long-term unemployment will keep us busy for a long time. ” (APA)

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