Pandemic pushes Austrian unemployment to all-time high

VIENNA, Austria – The novel coronavirus pandemic has pushed the number of unemployed Austrians to historically high levels, according to official figures released on Monday, May 4, with a year-on-year rise of almost 60%.

The blow to the economy dealt by the virus – and the lockdown brought in to combat it – means 571,477 people are now out of work, Austria’s AMS employment service said.

This compares to 361,202 people at the end of April 2019, meaning an annual rise of 58%.

The AMS called the spike since mid-March this year “an extreme rise in inactivity linked to [the] coronavirus.”

The unemployment rate, which in Austria is calculated to include those in training, stood at 12.8% at the end of April, up from 8.1% in February.

AMS said in a statement that “all sectors, all regions, and all age groups” had been affected by the slowdown.

There are now 10 times more jobseekers than vacancies, which are themselves down a third year-on-year.

The hardest-hit industries are hotels and restaurants, which have seen a 130% rise in unemployment, and construction, where the figure is 98%.

The mountainous Tyrol region, where the vital ski season had to be ended early, saw a 108% spike.

Austria moved into a lockdown to restrict the virus’ spread relatively early in mid-March, and is now in the process of progressively lifting restrictions on movement.

As of Monday, the country of 8.8 million people had recorded 15,538 infections and 600 deaths. – Rappler.com