At the end of December 2024, 426,012 people were looking for a job, which is 27,007 more than at the end of 2023. At the end of 2023, 352,873 people were unemployed and 73,139 people were following an AMS training course. The unemployment rate stood at 8.3 percent at the end of December and at the same time there was a record employment rate.
In 2024, the average unemployment rate was 7 percent, and the average over the past ten years – including the corona pandemic – was 8 percent.
Compared to 2023, unemployment among women has risen more sharply by 15,095 than among men, where there was an increase of 11,912. At the end of December, 112,528 people aged 50 and over were registered with the AMS as unemployed or in training. Youth unemployment stood at 67,658 people.
The employment record, but the number of vacancies is falling
With 3,912,000 employees, there was a record number of employees at the end of 2024. Since the beginning of last year, this number has increased by 11,000. However, the number of vacancies reported to the AMS fell slightly to 80,740. On average for the period 2014-2024, this number was 63,396 at the end of each year.
“The rise in unemployment is slowing down. “In addition, based on current data, you can see that the unemployment rate is at a lower level than at the end of 2019, when the unemployment rate was 8.5 percent – before the outbreak of the corona pandemic and the Russian war. aggression against Ukraine,” Minister of Labor and Economy Martin Kocher (ÖVP) calculated on Thursday. The Austrian labor market is bracing itself for weak global growth.
The increase in unemployment rates slowed slightly
Together with the AMS, the government focused on training and further education measures so that more than 270,000 people could obtain higher qualifications by 2024. “Thanks to the second largest budget per capita for an active labor market policy, the preconditions were in place for fast and effective training and further education for the unemployed in 2024,” said Kocher. He pointed out that unemployment rose by an average of 33,121 people on an annual basis in the first quarter. The smallest increase in the number of people registered with the AMS was observed in the fourth quarter of the year, with an increase of 30,390; people.
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.
