2023-07-02 05:40:24
The new IHS boss, Holger Bonin, proposes a tax-free mobility bonus for employees to be paid by the employer. This could make it easier for tourism professionals from eastern Austria to move to western Austria, said Bonin in the APA interview. However, there is no “one solution” for the labor shortage, but “many small adjustment screws” have to be adjusted. Statistics Austria counted around 228,300 job vacancies in Austria in the first quarter.
The so-called “distance allowance” is currently financial support from the Public Employment Service (AMS) for unemployed people who accept a job far away from their place of residence. Apprentices can also receive the subsidy.
Bonin recommends that the government and companies to tackle labor shortages should first focus on women working part-time, the elderly, the unemployed and mobility-seeking domestic workers. “We will not solve the problem of aging-related labor shortages through immigration. That is not to be expected in terms of numbers,” says the director of the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS). A central lever is “the exhaustion of domestic potential”, immigration is only “one element of many”.
The IHS boss sees a great need for action in Austria when it comes to childcare. “Women are also caught in the part-time trap because it is difficult to reconcile family and work because there is no reliable, all-day childcare,” said the German labor market economist. In this area, there must be solutions from politics and companies. Employers initially have an obligation to “work on these things, such as offering flexible working time models, home office models or a company kindergarten,” says Bonin.
The IHS director does not expect mass unemployment due to artificial intelligence (AI) and automation. The requalification of workers is central. “We must not wait until people have become unemployed through the AI. We must see the warning signs earlier. That is a task of the AMS, but also of the companies,” said the economist. A decreasing labor supply due to demographics could “be a driver for technological change and automation processes”.
As designated IHS boss, Bonin has given numerous media interviews in recent weeks: He sees no need for a legally regulated reduction in working hours, rejects a wealth tax, but can imagine an inheritance tax coupled with a reduction in the lower wage tax brackets. He also thinks the indexing of rents with the consumer price index (CPI) is wrong. According to Bonin, the social partners should also negotiate an extension of the collective agreement terms in view of the high inflation. “But the KV term does not generally have to be increased to 18 or 24 months. I was misunderstood there,” said the labor market economist to the APA. In Germany, in addition to the wage level, the term is always negotiated.
Bonin commented on the property tax for the first time. This is “a sensible tax”. In Austria, the real estate appraisal value, which is decisive for the property tax, is usually significantly below the market value. “I’m a friend of updating that.”
The German economist took over the management of the IHS in Vienna on July 1st. Since the then IHS boss Martin Kocher went into politics at the beginning of 2021, the emeritus economics professor Klaus Neusser has acted as interim director. After IHS long-term head Bernhard Felderer (1991-2012), the institute had five different heads. The search for directors proved difficult on several occasions and interim directors had to step in. After a long back and forth, the German economist Lars Feld resigned at short notice for the IHS chief post at the beginning of 2022. Bonin has now given up a five-year contract as head of IHS with an option to extend it and has given up his professorship at the University of Kassel and his research director post at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). “I will devote all my energy to the IHS,” said Bonin.
The German labor market economist wants to preserve the interdisciplinary profile of the institute, which was founded in 1963 and has almost 160 employees. Scientists from the fields of economics and social and political science work together at the IHS. The current structure of the research groups should not be changed. As the new IHS director, Bonin wants to expand research in the cross-sectional areas of demography, digitization, decarbonization and polarization. “Our work must be of great benefit to society as well as scientifically excellent and with integrity,” announced the economist on the occasion of his designation.
The IHS recently had an annual budget of 12 million euros at its disposal. Half of the budget went to basic funding from the Ministry of Finance, the National Bank, the Chamber of Commerce and the University of Vienna. From next year, however, the OeNB will no longer automatically pay a basic fee to IHS, Wifo and wiiw, but will instead advertise research funding. Third-party funds, especially project-related funding and research projects, make up the other half of the IHS total budget. The third-party funding rate is thus 50 percent. Negotiations for the IHS budget 2024-2026 with the funding bodies are currently underway.
Bonin referred to the renowned German economic research institutes ifo, DIW, ZEW, whose third-party funding rate is around 30 percent. “You have to move there.” By increasing the uncommitted public funding, more basic research and a better data and model infrastructure can be provided.
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