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Social dialogue in times of crisis: Intersectoral social partner agreement on short-time working schemes in Austria Bernadette Allinger FORBA (Working Life Research Centre, Austria) EUROFOUND Conference „Studies on the EU and other Global Economies: The Role of Social Partners in Tackling the Crisis, 1 December 2011
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2 Overview ▫ Signs of the crisis in Austria – economic and labour market data ▫ Social dialogue during the crisis: Social partner agreement on short-time work (STW) ▫ Outcomes
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3 Signs of the crisis in Austria ▫ Pre-crisis situation in Austria: lowest unemployment rate since 2000 with 5.8% (national calculation), GDP growth in 2007 at 3.7%, in 2008 still at 2.2% ▫ Austria was hit by the crisis in autumn 2008, intensified by mid-2009; GDP decreased by 3.6% in 2009; Exports fell by 20% in 2009 ▫ Unemployment rate increased by 22.6 percentage points (48,100 persons) to 7.2% from 2008 to 2009 ▫ Employment groups concerned most: males, youth, migrants and lowly qualified
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4 Development of economic growth (Source: Eurostat)
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5 Development of unemployment (Sources: Eurostat, Statistik Austria) Quelle Eurostat
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6 Short-time working schemes I Negotiations took place at three levels: ▫ tripartite national level: improvement of framework conditions (extension from 12 to 18, then 24 months; combination of STW+qualification; increase of STW allowance for employers from 7th month onwards) – very good negotiating atmosphere ▫ bipartite cross-sectoral level: framework agreement (90% replacement ratio) – good negotiating atmosphere ▫ bipartite company level – partly controversial negotiating atmosphere
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7 Short-time working schemes II Provisions of the STW scheme: ▫ Any employer in private sector can make use of STW schemes if: temporarily affected by unforeseeable economic problems which are not due to seasonal variation ▫ PES to be informed six weeks prior to envisaged introduction of the scheme ▫ Reduction of working hours must not go below 10% or over 90% of the standard working hours ▫ Employees’ wage losses due to reduced working hours are (partly) compensated by means of a STW allowance (Kurzarbeitsbeihilfe) or a further training allowance (Beihilfe zur Qualifizierung, 15% higher)
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8 Short-time working schemes III Conflicts at cross-sectoral level: ▫ Employers tried to sideline trade unions’ consent to company-level implementation process (like in Germany) – not successful ▫ Wages to be paid: PES 55%, employers to cover gap (workers to receive at least 90% of former income – excl. SMEs) ▫ Retention period shortened at employers’ demand
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9 Short-time work take up Source: Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Consumer Protection (BMASK)
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10 Outcomes ▫ Between 80,000 and 90,000 jobs were saved during the crisis, of which varying estimates say that between 10- 30% can be attributed to STW ▫ STW as cost effective measure: one unemployed person costs as much as three persons on STW ▫ No mass redundancies ▫ Growth in unemployment significantly lacked behind the contraction of the GDP ▫ Temporary agency work went up immediately after crisis (after a decrease with onset of crisis) ▫ Lowly qualified workers hit particularly hard – made redundant first
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11 Thank you!
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