After SPÖ boss Andreas Babler confirmed his goal of a 32-hour week on weekends, representatives of the business community rioted. Chamber of Commerce chairman Harald Mahrer sees the labor shortage as “a drama for the entire country”.
WKÖ boss Mahrer expects vacancies to double with a 32-hour working week. “That means 434 million hours that would not be worked during the year. And that is another 230,000 jobs that cannot be filled and that would be a drama for the entire country,” Mahrer warned Monday in the morning news of Ö1. Demographic development would make the problem even worse in the coming decades.
People would have to work at least as much as they do now, although many would be willing to work more. “People are willing to do more when there is more net than gross,” says Mahrer. To cope with the labor shortage, childcare must be expanded “massively” and it must be easier for people who want to work in Austria to come to the country.
Better conditions are needed
“If there is a shortage, the causes are other than a reduction in working hours that has not even taken place,” ÖGB boss Katzian contradicted. There are currently 310,000 unemployed compared to 110,000 vacancies. It is up to employers to offer better conditions if they want to find the necessary staff.
The reduction of working hours had been set as a long-term political goal. “Although we always talk about different levels here, about the weekly working time, about the annual working time, we are talking about the lifetime working time,” says Katzian. “Exactly nobody” would demand a reduction to 32 hours a week overnight.
To classify the figures cited by Mahrer and Katzian, according to Statistics Austria, Austrian companies reported 214,000 job openings in the second quarter of 2023 – 123,800 of which were reported to the Public Employment Service (AMS) for recruitment. In July, 310,582 people were registered with the Public Employment Service (AMS) as unemployed or in training.
Baber firmly believes in it
Babler repeated his demand for a 32-hour working week in “im Journal zu Gast” (Ö1) on Saturday, but already emphasized that the introduction should not come all at once. It is based on the debate on short-time work in the early 1970s, when a five-year plan for each sector was negotiated with the social partners. Across the country, i.e. in all sectors, Babler believes there will be “a big step in reducing working hours” in the next “eight, nine years”.
Source: Krone
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