The Chamber of Commerce and industry have been warning for some time about Austria’s declining competitiveness. In addition to the migration of domestic companies abroad, the declining demand for products ‘Made in Austria’ is also a major problem.
“We have reached a tipping point where many of our customers no longer want or can afford Austria,” Georg Knill, president of the Industrial Association, said at the Business Journalists’ Club in Vienna on Wednesday. Domestic industrial products have become more expensive due to collective agreements, energy prices and additional labor costs that are high compared to international standards.
To make Austria more competitive as an industrial location, the IV has long been calling for a reduction in indirect labor costs and for reforms in the areas of work, education, bureaucracy and pensions. Without location improvements, domestic industrial companies would have to move production abroad or reduce the number of employees in Austria. Deindustrialization due to “the lack of competitiveness” has already begun, warned the IV president and half-owner of the Styrian Knill Group.
Criticism of the SPÖ’s “communist manifesto”.
Knill also addressed the debate sparked by the SPÖ on shortening working hours and made a counterpoint: an extension of daily working hours – 15 minutes each in the morning and afternoon – could already have significant positive effects on the social system and prosperity of the country. According to a study by EcoAustria, such an increase increases real gross domestic product (GDP) by 1.2 percent.
All parliamentary parties reject an increase in normal weekly working hours to 41 hours. The IV boss had little to gain from the ’24 Ideas for Austria’ presented by SPÖ leader Andreas Babler at the end of April. “This is a communist manifesto. It is far from the center.”
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.
