Slight Decrease in Unemployment
In December 2011, the Austrian unemployment rate was 8.2%, which is slightly below the previous year´s level.
Slight Decrease in Unemployment / Picture: © Vindobona.org
After some months of unemployment increase, the number of unemployed persons declined again. At the end of December 2011, the official unemployment rate reached 8.2%, which is a decline by 0.1 percentage points against December 2010.
All in all, 360,600 persons looking for a job were unemployed in December. The number of training participants rose by 9% to 55,830, whereas the number of unemployed persons was up by 0.8% compared to the end of 2010. However, one out of four unemployed already has a promise of hiring. According to the Austrian Ministry of Social Affairs, Austria has still the lowest unemployment rate among the EU members. In October, Austria´s unemployment rate by EU standards amounted to 4.1%.
“In spite of difficult framework conditions in 2011, the Austrian labor market situation was excellent. With an increase of 62,000 employed persons, a new employment record can be observed. 3,3 million persons are actively employed now.”, Martin Gleitsmann from the Austrian Chamber of Commerce comments. Also the employment situation in Germany is improving significantly. With 41 million employed persons, the employment quota is the highest since the reunification in 1990.
However, as a recession is not excluded anymore, which could hit also Austria, a worsening of the labor market situation is probable. Austrian economic growth should only reach 0.5% in 2012.