Austria's labor market under pressure: record unemployment in February!

Austria's labor market under pressure: record unemployment in February!

Austria's job market faces major challenges: the economic situation is tightening and the latest labor market numbers are alarming. In February 2025, 429,940 people were unemployed or in training, which means an increase of 27,643 people, about 7 percent compared to the previous year. The production sector is particularly affected, where unemployment has even increased by 15 percent. IV general secretary Christoph Neumayer emphasizes the urgency that the new federal government must quickly take action-capable measures to strengthen the labor market in order to secure jobs and to stabilize the business location, such as ots.at reported.

In addition to the drastic developments on the labor market, there are also positive approaches in education policy. On the occasion of today's Council of Ministers, the government announced a renegotiation of the 15A agreement between the federal and state governments, which provides additional budget for elementary pedagogy and childcare. Neumayer is optimistic: "The reform needs are known and the improvement of quality in elementary education is a long -term demand," he said. Austria still has some catching up to do with the expenditure for elementary formation, since the proportion of 0.7 percent of GDP is below the OECD average, such as kaernten.iv.at . This could prove to be decisive in the long term for the future of the children and the location.

The industrial association in particular calls for a quality boost in training for educators and the introduction of uniform quality criteria. Studies show that good training is crucial for the development of the youngest. Neumayer emphasizes the need for a basic tertiary training for employees in the field of education in order to remain internationally competitive. The involvement of the social partners in the development of uniform standards for elementary pedagogy is rated as positive and could pave the way for necessary reforms that are supposed to improve both the compatibility of family and work and the general educational quality in Austria.