Austria's focus: older workers soon with bonus malus?

Austria's focus: older workers soon with bonus malus?

In Austria, almost a third of the companies are not ready to hire older workers from the age of 60. This is proven by current reports from the Chamber of Labor (AK) and the Austrian Trade Union Confederation (ÖGB), which require a package of measures to promote the employment of this age group. The central proposal is an innovative bonus-malus system that is rewarded with the company that employs older workers and punishes this. According to the data, around 30% of medium and larger companies in Austria (a total of 7,400 companies) are not ready to hire employees aged 60 and over.

The problem is alarming: the proportion of 60- to 64-year-olds in the workforce is only around 5%. Around 700,000 people live in this age group in Austria. The aim of the planned package of measures is to put at least 100,000 of these older workers into employment by 2030. The numbers apparently show a great need for action - since 2000 the average pension age for women has also increased from 56.8 to 60.4 years and for men from 58.5 to 62.4 years.

professional perspectives for older workers

In 2024, only 22.8% of women (76,000 out of 340,000) and 45.6% of men (150,000 out of 330,000) were employed in the age group 60-64 years. This shows that there is a lack of incentives and structural changes in the labor market. The ÖGB therefore not only demands age -appropriate jobs, but also targeted grants instead of a flat -rate revenue. Suggestions include transparent monitoring of the older quotas, improved rehabilitation and prevention offers as well as binding limit values for moving heavy loads.

Support for this advance also comes from the Greens, which, however, criticize the rejection of a corresponding application in the National Council. In contrast, NEOS and ÖVP indicate that the proposal is considered bureaucratic and unnecessary, although they support the creation of incentives instead of punishments.

new pension regulations and measures

In addition, the ÖGB praised the initiatives recently proposed by the government to stabilize the pension system. The introduction of the sub -pension from 2026 is seen as a possibility to enable older workers to a gentle transition to the pension while ensuring a healthy income. This measure could lead to people being able to stay in working life longer, which would benefit the entire pension system.

At the same time, however, there are critical voices for the planned shortening of partial retirement, which is regarded as a negative aspect of the new pension package. The ÖGB expressly calls for targeted incentives and relief to promote the employment of older workers and thus reduce long -term unemployment. The 55+ campaign, which deals with combating long -term unemployment

global perspectives and challenges

The demographic change is a global topic. According to information from the Institute for Labor Market and Vocational Research (IAB), Germany could lose a significant number of workers in the coming decades due to demographic change if no measures are taken. One of the solutions could be to keep older workers at work, because the employment rate of this age group has increased in the past ten years.

For more information you can read the reports under these links: vienna.at href = "https://www.ots.at/presseaus-sung/ots_20250618_ots0193/pensionpaket-oegb-demand- Mehrt-anreiz-fuer-eltere worker"> OTS , and Iab .