Industry to labor market: further mobilize employment incentives

2023-11-02 10:02:21

IV-GS Neumayer: Incentives to increase the volume of employment – exploit all potential on the labor market – further relieve the burden on the labor factor

Vienna (OTS) – According to the labor market figures published today by the AMS, unemployment rose slightly in October, but with an unemployment rate of 6.3%, if you ignore the record year of 2022, it is still at the level it was last in 2010. In October 2023, around 339,000 people were registered with the AMS as looking for work or were undergoing training. The number of vacancies reported to the AMS remains at a very high level at over 101,000. “In view of the recessionary economic development, these developments are a sign that companies still need and retain staff. The companies are showing responsibility,” notes Christoph Neumayer, Secretary General of the Industrial Association (IV).

The overall volume of work must be increased – the high proportion of part-time workers is worrying

“The number of employees is at a record level, but the volume of work per employment relationship is tending to decrease, which is weakening Austria as a job and business location and increasing the need for personnel. We must do everything we can to increase the overall volume of work again. We need targeted performance incentives to motivate people to work more,” emphasizes Neumayer. According to Statistics Austria, the part-time rate for women in the second quarter of 2023 was 50.6% and that for men was 13.4%. “If more than half of the employed women in Austria work part-time and the trend among men is also increasing, we have to act. We have to create incentives so that people are willing to work more again and that it is worth it for them,” demands Neumayer in view of this development. Part of this rate is due to a lack of child care, which is why the industry has repeatedly advocated a legal right to high-quality child care from the first year of life. It is also important to strengthen performance incentives in order to get people into employment in general but, above all, to motivate those who are already employed but only work a few hours to increase their work volume.

“Performance must be worthwhile for people and also for companies. It must be possible to leverage all potential on the labor market and thereby relieve the burden on companies. The labor factor must be further relieved in view of the economically challenging times. Companies must be able to afford the staff they urgently need. Only if we turn all the screws can we maintain Austria as a place to work and do business,” concluded Neumayer.