“Waiting dilemma”? – Call for better integration of Ukrainians

According to Achrainer, about 110,000 people have come to Austria since the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine two years ago. There are currently approximately 70,000 people in the country, 40,000 of whom receive basic care from the federal or state governments. Since then, the state has created many laws and regulations to make people’s lives easier, but integration is a problem.

Kopf also saw it this way: “I say openly: I am unable to be truly satisfied,” said the head of the employment service. Currently, 17,400 Ukrainians are fully insured and another 3,600 have marginal jobs. If you include children, the elderly, the disabled or the self-employed, that leaves 15,000 to 20,000 people who are probably fit to work but don’t show up: “That’s quite a lot.”

Fear of losing basic services
In addition to the problems of language skills, childcare and the virulent recognition of training, especially in the health and care sector, Kopf and Achrainer cited the displaced people’s fear of losing basic services as a problem. Although the possibility of flexible additional income has been created, one of the biggest problems, according to Achrainer, is federalism: Carinthia, Lower Austria and Salzburg have not yet implemented this, in other cases there is a lack of information or an online calculation tool.

Permanent residence permit required
Achrainer mentioned another obstacle: displaced person status, which is only extended for one year from March to March. That is why you need a permanent residence permit. Kopf saw positive signals from the federal government for this perspective of remaining, once the labor market has been accepted for a certain period. He had less confidence in his well-known demand that people be transferred to social security, where there would then be an obligation to cooperate. The AMS boss regretted that there was no parliamentary majority here.