Full ski huts, fully booked hotels – but not enough chefs? Due to the still glaring shortage of workers in the tourism sector, Barbara Thaler, President of the Tyrol Chamber of Commerce, has spoken out in favor of ending the seasonal quota for workers from non-EU countries.
The labor market must be open, otherwise Austria would be at a huge disadvantage as a location, Thaler said in an interview with the APA news agency. “It is becoming increasingly difficult to attract employees from other countries,” says Thaler. Not least because neighboring countries Germany and Switzerland have “significantly simplified the labor market for people outside the EU”.
“We have to struggle through quota requests”
“Do we even need a quota instrument in tourism at the moment? We have full employment and companies urgently need workers – and we have to struggle through the quota requests,” said the World Cup president, who has only just come to power, exasperated. The instrument is gone “for now” – even though the federal government has vastly increased the contingent this year to about 1,200. Industry representatives recently said that between 6,000 and 8,000 vacancies cannot be filled for the winter season.
Thaler believed in principle: ‘If someone wants to work, he or she should be allowed to work.’ According to Thaler, asylum seekers should also be allowed to work – although she was aware that this was ‘legally not that simple’. ” – but this ‘task lies in Vienna.’ At the same time, we must start with the social system and create more ‘balance’ in terms of unemployment benefits, minimum security and emergency aid – going to work must be worth it in any case.
Traveling will be more environmentally friendly in the future
The EU parliamentarian, whose passion is transport policy, believed that the trip to Tyrol – the Achilles heel in the industry’s CO₂ balance – would be more environmentally friendly in the future. She defended herself against the ‘condemnation of air traffic’ because ‘very few planes would land in Innsbruck anyway’.
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.
