2 nd meeting of the esf co.net under austrian presidency round table on the crisis sigrid röhrich...

2nd meeting of the ESF Co.Net under Austrian PresidencyRound table on the crisis

Sigrid RöhrichVienna, 4 June 2009

How to fight the crisis?

Impact of the crisis on the Austrian labour marketPolitical reaction, LMP programmes and instruments adopted

Sigrid Röhrich2nd meeting of the ESF Co.Net under Austrian Presidency, 3 – 4 June 2009

Outline

• Labour Market Situation

• Impact of the Economic Crisis

• Political Reaction

• Labour Market Measures


Unemployment Rates in the EU (March 2009)

Net

herla

nds

Aus

tria

Cyp

rus

Slov

enia

Cze

ch R

epub

lic

Den

mar

k

Rom

ania

Bul

garia

Luxe

mbu

rg

Uni

ted

Kin

gdom

Mal

ta

Italy

Bel

gium

Finl

and

Ger

man

y

Pola

nd

Gre

ece

Swed

en

EU 2

7

EU 1

5

Port

ugal

Fran

ce

Hun

gary

Slov

ak R

epub

lic

Irela

nd

Esto

nia

Lith

uani

a

Latv

ia

Spai

n

Source: Eurostat


Labour Market Situation in Austria

Overview (May 2009)

Change over previous year

absolute in %

Employed persons (April 2009) 3,354,648 - 38,632 - 1.1

Employment rate acc. to EUROSTAT (2008) 72.1% + 0.7%

Registered unemployed (average stock) 239,777 + 54,967 + 29.7

Registered unemployed men 136,314 + 40,085 + 41.7

Registered unemployed women 103,463 + 14,882 + 16.8

Registered unemployed 15-24 years of age 39,729 + 10,996 + 38.3

Registered unemployed over 50 48,063 + 8,517 + 21.5

Duration of unemployment (in days) 93 + 4

Stock of long-term unemployed > 12 months 6,311 + 731 + 13.1

Registered job openings 27,839 - 14,647 - 34.5

Persons in training courses (average stock) 64,197 + 12,212 + 23.5

Registered unemployment rate 6.6% + 1.5%

Unemployment rate acc. to EUROSTAT (March) 4.5% + 0.7%


Impact of the Current Economic Crisis

• Rising unemployment: sharpest increase since the 1950s

+29.7% in May 2009 (vs. May 2008)

• Declining employment since February 2009 (first time in 7 years)

• Young people among the most affected: +38.3% unemployed

• Men are more severely hit than women: +41.7% vs. +16.8%

• Foreigners are affected more than Austrians: +36.5% vs. +28.3%

• Sectors most severely hit: production of goods (+80.8% unemployed),

temporary agency workers (+47.6%), construction (+38.2%)


Employment, UnemploymentChange in percent (compared to previous year)

+25.9%

-1.1%

-24.6%

+17.8%

-30

-20

-10

0

10

20

30

2008-11 2008-12 2009-01 2009-02 2009-03 2009-04% c

han

ge

Unemployed (Total) Employed Persons Job Openings Course Participants

Recent Labour Market Development


Impact of the crisis on the Austrian labour market during the first six months

Average change in unemployment compared to previous year (12/2008 - 05/2009)

21,4

29,1

11,4

31,2

18,8

28,8

19,5

11,2

40,9

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

% c

ha

ng

e

Overall Men Women Youth Elderly Foreigners Low- With Temp (15-24) (45+) qualified disabilities workers


Political Reaction – Economic Stimulus Packages

• Economic Stimulus Package I: approx. € 1 billionFinancing for SME and infrastructure measures

• Economic Stimulus Package II: approx. € 2 billion “Investment Campaign” (a.o. regional employment programmes amounting to € 150 million)

• Tax reform amounting to € 2.7 billionin order to encourage demand and boost purchasing power

= Altogether more than 2% of the Austrian GDP


Political Reaction (2) – Labour Market

• Record budget for active labour market policy in 2009:€ 1.312 billion (+44%)

• Increase of AMS staff by 200 (about 5%) to 4,680 (service area for early interventions and professional guidance)

• Emphasis on (high-quality) qualification measuresand skills training campaigns64,200 course participants (end of May, +23.5%)

• Focus on youth programmes

• Increased use of short-time working


Labour Market Measures (1) – Youth Programmes

Youth employment package 2008

• “Guaranteed training” for young people (up to 18 years)

• Including measures supporting company-based andsupra-company apprenticeship training (upgraded as regular component of vocational training)

• 10,300 supra-company apprenticeship training positions available in 2008/2009 (full training: up to 3 years)

• Needs-compliant upgrading of support schemes: increase to 12,000 planned for 2009/2010 (up to 15,000 if necessary)


Labour Market Measures (2) – Youth Programmes

“Campaign Future” 2009

• for young jobseekers aged 19 to 24

• “Guaranteed training or employment” (targeted training measure,

workplace or subsidized employment within six months)

• Needs-compliant (further) education measures, supplemented by low-

threshold measures aiming at labour market integration

• New jobs in the public sector (nursery school teachers, police officers,

healthcare workers)

= Altogether approx. € 500 million for young people in 2009


Labour Market Measures (3) – Short-time working

= Subsidized temporary reduction of working time in companies suffering from transitory economic difficulties

• 2007: average of 42 persons working short-time, 2008: 798• 30 May 2009: 56,626 persons in 305 companies working

short-time

Reform of short-time working (effective since 10 March 2009):• Extended eligibility criteria• Prolonged maximum duration• Increased financial support• Combination with qualification measures possible


Labour Market Measures (4) – Short-time working

• Eligibility: all employees except apprentices;social partner agreement necessary

• Benefit amount: notional unemployment benefit plus compensation for social security contributions (42.5% / 43.9%), +15% of basic amount in case of qualification

• Reduction of working time: 10% to 90%

• Duration: up to (3x6) 18 months (exceptions possible)

• Retention period after short-time working: 1 to 4 months

• Qualification: „general“ (transferable, internal or external) measures, training concept, allowance for course costs


Labour Market Measures (5) – Labour Foundations

= Austrian (social partner) LMP instrument in order to support adjustment

processes due to structural change (since 1980s)

• Combination of tailor-made measures: occupational orientation (resp.

staff selection), qualification and training, support with job-seeking

• Duration: up to 3 years (participants older than 50: up to 4 years)

• Financing: companies, regional bodies, AMS (unemployment benefit)

Different types:

• Outplacement foundations in the case of imminent staff reduction

• Implacement foundations in the case of staff / qualification shortages


Labour Market Measures (6) – Next Steps?

Measures currently under discussion

Providing subsistence income:• Several revisions relating to unemployment and social benefits or

supplements

Maintaining employment:• Labour foundations for employed persons, “youth foundation”

Redistributing working time:• Reform of part-time allowance scheme for older workers• Modification of solidarity bonus (job rotation scheme)


Outlook

• Impact of the measures adopted yet to be watched …• New measures to be implemented in autumn• Long-term effect of crisis measures?

• National accompanying monitoring and evaluation project• EU monthly labour market monitoring

http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=120&langId=en

• EC Economic forecast for Austria: 2008 2009 2010GDP +1.8% -4.0% -0.1%Unemployment rate 3.8% 6.0% 7.1%





Thank you for your attention!

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2 nd meeting of the esf co.net under austrian presidency round table on the crisis sigrid röhrich...

Documents

austrian gdp slide

crisis sigrid rhrich

eurostat slide

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registered unemployed

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registered unemployment

current economic crisis