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01. 02. 12. - 15:00

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01. 02. 12. - 15:00

EU troubles may hit job market top dog Austria

Austria had the lowest jobless rate in the European Union (EU) last month.

Eurostat, the European Commission’s (EC) statistics organisation, announced yesterday (Tues) that the alpine country had an unemployment rate of 4.1 per cent in January, up by 0.1 per cent compared to the previous month. Eurostat said the average jobless rate of the 27 European Union (EU) member countries was 9.9 per cent in January, up from 9.8 per cent in December 2011.

Eurostat figures also show that Austria had the second-lowest unemployment rate for young people last month at 8.2 per cent. Only Germany did better in this concern in January (7.8 per cent). The country which borders Austria is Europe’s strongest federal economy.

German labour market officials said yesterday that the overall number of people out of work in the country edged up by 310,000 to 3.09 million. The figure recorded in January lower than data registered for the same month of 2010.

Experts said the cold temperatures had a strong impact on construction sector firms. Many businesses operating in the sector recently registered their staff as temporarily unemployed before work continues again in some weeks’ time.

Spain (48.7 per cent) and Greece (47.2 per cent) struggled the most in fighting unemployment among people aged 25 and below last month. The EU’s state and government leaders agreed in Brussels, Belgium, earlier this week to subsidise labour market initiatives aimed at young people in economically challenged countries with 82 billion Euros throughout this year and in 2013.

Austrian Social Democratic (SPÖ) Chancellor Werner Faymann encouraged decision-makers in other European countries to study his country’s education and job market policies. He said Austria succeeded by offering traineeship courses to secondary modern school pupils. The programmes enable young Austrians to start a career in the retail sector or an industrial branch without neglecting their schooling.

Eurostat said yesterday that 23.8 million of the around 500 million residents of the EU-27 had no work in December 2011. SPÖ Labour and Social Affairs Minister Rudolf Hundstorfer announced that the number of unemployed Austrians dropped by 4.3 per cent from 2010 to 2011 when 310,000 residents had no job. The minister said that, at 3.42 million, the number of employed Austrians reached a new record level at the same time.

Economists think that the Austrian jobless rate could inch up in the coming months due to the volatile condition of the economy in the Eurozone, the group of 17 EU members which use the Euro. However, they are more concerned about developments in Greece, Spain and Italy. Analysis show that 2.24 million Italians had no job in December, 0.9 per cent more than in November. The figures for December meant an increase of almost 11 per cent compared to the same month of 2010.

Austria’s economy could be affected by a further worsening of Italy’s economic condition. The southern country is one of the most important export and import partners of Austria. Furthermore, Italians take a significant share among holidaymakers in Austria in both summertime and during the winter sport period. Germany’s private economy is the main purchaser of Austrian products. People living in the largest country in Europe are more strongly represented among vacationers in Austria than travellers from anywhere else in the world.

Austrian Times

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