2 nd meeting of the ESF Co.Net under Austrian Presidency Round table on the crisis Sigrid Röhrich Vienna, 4 June 2009 How to fight the crisis? Impact of the crisis on the Austrian labour market Political reaction, LMP programmes and instruments adopted

Sigrid Röhrich 2nd 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

Sigrid Röhrich 2nd meeting of the ESF Co.Net under Austrian Presidency, 3 – 4 June 2009 Unemployment Rates in the EU (March 2009) Netherlands Austria Cyprus Slovenia Czech Republic Denmark Romania Bulgaria Luxemburg United Kingdom Malta Italy Belgium Finland Germany Poland Greece Sweden EU 27 EU 15 Portugal France Hungary Slovak Republic Ireland Estonia Lithuania Latvia Spain Source: Eurostat

Sigrid Röhrich 2nd meeting of the ESF Co.Net under Austrian Presidency, 3 – 4 June 2009 Labour Market Situation in Austria Overview (May 2009) Change over previous year absolutein % Employed persons (April 2009) 3,354, , Employment rate acc. to EUROSTAT (2008)72.1% + 0.7% Registered unemployed (average stock)239, , Registered unemployed men136, , Registered unemployed women103, , Registered unemployed years of age39, , Registered unemployed over 5048, , Duration of unemployment (in days) Stock of long-term unemployed > 12 months6, Registered job openings27, , Persons in training courses (average stock)64, , Registered unemployment rate6.6% + 1.5% Unemployment rate acc. to EUROSTAT (March)4.5% + 0.7%

Sigrid Röhrich 2nd meeting of the ESF Co.Net under Austrian Presidency, 3 – 4 June 2009 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 % Foreigners are affected more than Austrians: +36.5% vs % Sectors most severely hit: production of goods (+80.8% unemployed), temporary agency workers (+47.6%), construction (+38.2%)

Sigrid Röhrich 2nd meeting of the ESF Co.Net under Austrian Presidency, 3 – 4 June 2009 Recent Labour Market Development

Sigrid Röhrich 2nd meeting of the ESF Co.Net under Austrian Presidency, 3 – 4 June 2009 Impact of the crisis on the Austrian labour market during the first six months Overall Men Women Youth Elderly Foreigners Low- With Temp (15-24) (45+) qualified disabilities workers

Sigrid Röhrich 2nd meeting of the ESF Co.Net under Austrian Presidency, 3 – 4 June 2009 Political Reaction – Economic Stimulus Packages Economic Stimulus Package I: approx. € 1 billion Financing 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 billion in order to encourage demand and boost purchasing power =Altogether more than 2% of the Austrian GDP

Sigrid Röhrich 2nd meeting of the ESF Co.Net under Austrian Presidency, 3 – 4 June 2009 Political Reaction (2) – Labour Market Record budget for active labour market policy in 2009: € 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 measures and skills training campaigns 64,200 course participants (end of May, +23.5%) Focus on youth programmes Increased use of short-time working

Sigrid Röhrich 2nd meeting of the ESF Co.Net under Austrian Presidency, 3 – 4 June 2009 Labour Market Measures (1) – Youth Programmes Youth employment package 2008 “Guaranteed training” for young people (up to 18 years) Including measures supporting company-based and supra-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)

Sigrid Röhrich 2nd meeting of the ESF Co.Net under Austrian Presidency, 3 – 4 June 2009 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

Sigrid Röhrich 2nd meeting of the ESF Co.Net under Austrian Presidency, 3 – 4 June 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: 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

Sigrid Röhrich 2nd meeting of the ESF Co.Net under Austrian Presidency, 3 – 4 June 2009 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

Sigrid Röhrich 2nd meeting of the ESF Co.Net under Austrian Presidency, 3 – 4 June 2009 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

Sigrid Röhrich 2nd meeting of the ESF Co.Net under Austrian Presidency, 3 – 4 June 2009 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)

Sigrid Röhrich 2nd meeting of the ESF Co.Net under Austrian Presidency, 3 – 4 June 2009 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 EC Economic forecast for Austria: GDP +1.8%-4.0%-0.1% Unemployment rate 3.8% 6.0% 7.1%

Sigrid Röhrich 2nd meeting of the ESF Co.Net under Austrian Presidency, 3 – 4 June 2009 Thank you for your attention!