Decline in Unemployment Rate Continues
The number of unemployed fell by 4% to 262,904 in July. The positive development has lasted for 17 months already.
Decline in Unemployment Rate Continues / Picture: © Vindobona.org
According to data of the Austrian Public Employment Service (AMS), 262,904 persons were looking for a job in July. This corresponds to a decline by 4% (10,839) year-on-year. The number of registered unemployed persons fell by 0.9% to 209,743, while that of participants in training courses dropped 14.4% to 53,161.
The Austrian unemployment rate (national definition) stood at 5.6% in July (minus 0.2%), the Ministry for Social Affairs announced on Monday. Broken down by gender, there has been a remarkable development. The unemployment rate of men is declining (minus 3%) while that of women is growing (plus 1.4%). Similarly, the gap between unemployment rates of Austrians (minus 2.8%) and foreign nationals (plus 8.9%) is widening.
Manufacturing companies showed high demand for new employees, resulting in a drop of the sector’s unemployment rate by 13.8%. Construction (-4.8%) and trade (-4.1%) also registered a favorable development. Growing unemployment rates were observed in tourism (+0.3%) and the health care sector (+5.0%).
With a rate of 4.0% (EU definition), Austria was the top ranking country among the 27 member states, followed by the Netherlands (4.1%) and Luxembourg (4.5%). In terms of youth unemployment, Austria ranked third with a rate of 8.2%.