The business community must be much more active in finding personnel. “The labor shortage reduces wealth, exacerbates supply shortages and increases inflation,” NEOS Lab Director Lukas Sustala said Wednesday. To counter this, taxes on labor should be reduced and Austria should become more attractive as an immigration country for skilled workers from third countries. At the moment, the processing of applications – with an average of 15 weeks – takes too long.
The labor market situation in Austria has deteriorated sharply, especially over the past three years. “We have the highest number of vacancies of any country in the EU,” Sustala criticized.
Loacker wants to restart the red-white-red card
“We need a red-white-red card restart,” demanded NEOS spokesman Gerald Loacker. The most recent new regulation “has not solved the basic problem that different authorities are working on a person’s application” – the labor market service (AMS) and the respective district administrative authority.
If necessary, companies can also call in the business settlement company aba (Austrian Business Agency). “The red-white-red card has to be processed by an agency,” said Loacker. Otherwise it will take too long and a cook has been working in another country for a long time.
NEOS: “Reduce the tax burden”
A particularly important point in the fight against the labor shortage is, according to NEOS, the reduction of the tax burden. “It doesn’t pay enough to work more,” Loacker said. An increase in the weekly working hours from 30 to 35 hours is usually unattractive because of the high social charges and taxes. “It has to pay to do more – nobody wants to work anymore, that the finance minister has a bigger budget.”
Abolishing the cold progression only prevents a further increase in the tax burden, but does not reduce it, Sustala said. 30 years ago, the base rate averaged 32 percent, compared to 42 percent the previous year. “We tax the average worker as if he were a big earner.” The tax burden is still creeping up.
Low participation rate among 55-64 year olds
In addition, many people would be kept out of the labor market, Sustala said. According to him, many “retire too early”. “We have a low employment rate of 55 to 64 year olds,” says Loacker. If Austria had an employment rate like Sweden, “we would have 288,000 more people”. But childcare also needs to be expanded.
There are currently 200,000 vacancies nationwide. In 2020 there were only 100,000. The labor shortage is particularly striking in Salzburg and Upper Austria. “The situation will get worse – we have a demographic tipping point.” More people must be activated to work from the existing potential.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
