Unemployment in Carinthia is increasing: young people are particularly affected!

Unemployment in Carinthia is increasing: young people are particularly affected!

Kärnten, Österreich - The labor market in Carinthia is currently showing worrying developments. According to Klick Carärnten , unemployment rose by 7.4 percent in March 2025. This means an increase of 1,000 people to a total of 22,635 unemployed in the state. The managing director of the AMS Carinthia, Peter Wedenig, emphasizes that the number of employed employees remains stable with 218,000. Nevertheless, the increase in unemployment reflects a persistent economic weakness that affects many industries.

In particular, tourism suffers: Here, an increase in unemployment of 14 percent was registered, which corresponds to 397 additional unemployed. Wedenig emphasizes the urgency of targeted measures in order to make it easier for young people to get started with the labor market, since unemployment among young people has increased by 6.8 percent to 1,768. However, this number is below the Austria -wide average of 12 percent.

development in various industries

The situation on the job market is not uniform. The construction sector, on the other hand, shows pleasant figures: unemployment in the construction industry has decreased by 17.1 percent, while the vacancies in this area increased by 18 percent. However, the opposite trend can be observed in commercial and technical professions. Unemployment in technical professions increased by 20 percent, in the metal and electrical industry by 16 percent and 5 percent in retail. The health industry also recorded an increase of almost 5 percent.

The development of the apprenticeships is also worrying. In March 2025, the number of open apprenticeships fell by more than 18 percent, while the number of apprenticeship seekers rose by 6 percent to 439. Experts attribute this decline to the closure of fewer training companies in rural areas.

regional differences

The regional differences in labor market development are striking. The Hermagor district experienced the greatest increase in unemployment with almost 30 percent. The districts of Feldkirchen (+7%) and Spittal (+8%) are also affected by climbs, while in Wolfsberg there is a positive exception: unemployment dropped by 3.4 percent here. Forecasts indicate that the situation could further tighten if the economic weakness continued.

The published numbers, which are also supplemented by In summary, it can be seen that the labor market situation in Carinthia is characterized by increased unemployment, while some sectors, such as the construction industry, record positive developments. The challenges, especially for young people and in the tourism industry, urgently require measures to improve the situation.