In Vienna, exactly 142,001 people received a minimum income in 2023. The share of recipients has increased by 7,698 compared to the previous year, but the percentage of approximately 7 percent remains unchanged. The reasons for this include Vienna’s population growth. What is surprising is that more and more working people are dependent on a minimum income.
In Vienna, about 142,000 people received a minimum income last year. There was a slight increase of almost 8,000 recipients compared to 2022. As the office of social councilor Peter Hacker (SPÖ) announced, this would not affect the rate of approximately 7 percent.
The reason for the increase is population growth in Vienna, because the share of minors in particular is increasing slightly; family reunification is responsible for this.
Rate unchanged since 2019
Encouragingly, the minimum safety ratio has remained unchanged since 2019. However, the population has grown significantly. For example, the war of aggression against Ukraine in 2022 led to the largest population increase in the past five years, according to the office of city councilor for Social Affairs Peter Hacker (SPÖ).
In 2023, 48,999 minors lived in families that received the minimum income. That was 4.3 percent more than the year before. After the number of supported minors fell or stagnated since 2017, it rose again for the first time in 2023, according to Hacker. In addition, there were mainly children who were entitled to asylum, some of whom were born in Austria.
In any case, the family reunion makes itself felt. The number of 0 to 17 year olds entitled to asylum in the minimum security category recorded a slight increase of 9.2 percent.
More and more employees are dependent on a minimum income
A surprising finding is that more and more working people in Vienna are dependent on a minimum income. Their number increased from 11,429 to 12,161 people in 2023. According to the town hall, the increase was 6.4 percent, six months earlier. But the trend is that more and more working people are dependent on the minimum income; they use it to supplement their income.
According to the Vienna Chamber of Labor, people in need of assistance and whose family income is lower than the minimum standards of the Vienna Minimum Security or who cannot meet their needs with their own resources are entitled to a minimum income. In addition, recipients must have a primary residence in Vienna.
56 percent cannot work
The rest of the deployable recipients are registered with the Employment Service (AMS). However, for 56 percent of the recipients, the question of going to work does not even arise. These are mainly children, retirees or people who cannot work.
For social councilor Hacker, the unchanged figure shows that the city’s measures have prevented the increase in poverty in Vienna despite many crises. This is also a mandate to do everything possible to get those affected into the labor market “as quickly as possible,” he emphasized in a statement. But it always remains clear: “We leave no one behind.”
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.
