“A year ago we still had record unemployment, a year later we are happy about full employment and the lowest unemployment rates in Salzburg. However, the fundamental problem has remained: the blatant need for skilled workers and labourers!”
According to the WKÖ economic barometer, 80% of the companies in Salzburg state that the problem of a lack of workers is currently the greatest challenge, ahead of difficulties in the supply chains and burdens due to high energy prices. “The economy offers more vacancies than ever before. At the end of December, the AMS had 11,545 vacancies, 219% more than December 2020 and even 77% more than in the boom year 2019. The problem of a lack of workers is slowly but surely becoming a brake on growth,” warns Peter Buchmüller.
If new, additional positions cannot be filled, the shortage also becomes a competitive disadvantage for the companies compared to their competitors in other countries. The shortage of skilled workers must therefore not simply be accepted, warns Buchmüller: “The labor problem endangers the dynamics of the economy and thus the level of prosperity in the medium term. We have to get this fundamental structural problem under control!”
Finalize the repeatedly announced labor market reform
Against this background, the President of the Salzburg Chamber of Commerce is once again calling for a comprehensive reform of unemployment insurance. “The reform announced by Labor Minister Kocher for the first half of the year must now be tackled. Even if the matter is sensitive, it cannot be solved by repeated announcements, but only by concrete measures.” In general, it must now be a matter of promoting work and not unemployment. Greater incentives and support for taking up employment must be provided.
Specifically, the WKS again calls for the following measures:
- A degressive staggering of unemployment benefits with a revenue-neutral increase in the first three months and a decrease after the third and sixth months. Minister of Labor Kocher announces a differentiated model. “We await his suggestions,” explains Buchmüller.
- The possibility of marginal employment in addition to receiving unemployment benefits should at least be limited. It has proven to be a hindrance to placement and reinforces unemployment.
- Furthermore, occupational protection should be abolished without replacement, at least for those under 30, and wage protection should be reduced to 100 days. It is also necessary to adapt the reasonable travel times to the commuting times that are usual in working life.
WKS President Buchmüller: “Labor market policy is not there to protect the unemployed from work, but to reduce unemployment as quickly as possible and to acquire qualifications that are needed.”
As a further measure against the shortage of skilled workers, a reorganization in the area of qualified immigration is also necessary in the opinion of the Salzburg Chamber of Commerce. A long-overdue reform of the Red-White-Red Card is needed here.
Social partners have strengthened important initiative for qualification
In 2020, the AMS, AK, WKS and the Technical Training Center Mitterberghütten (TAZ) also started higher qualifications for the unemployed. “We have thus broadened the range of job-related qualifications – AQUA for short. We can thus offer further higher qualifications in the highly sought-after area of technology and the electrical and metal sector. The AQUA training is also designed to be particularly practical and takes place in the companies, which gives them direct access to the future specialists,” says Buchmüller, emphasizing the advantages.
In addition to incentives to take up employment, the WKS considers company-related qualification to be a central strategy for getting more people out of unemployment into employment.
Company childcare helps women, families and companies
With better child care, more and more women could enter the workforce or even work full-time if they wanted to. This also represents a partial strategy to combat the labor shortage and to cope with demographic change.
Here, the social partners AK and WKS started a project with the “Company childcare” advice center a good year ago. The advice center advises companies, works councils and employees on setting up company childcare options, free of charge.
The new advisory service has been very well received. Numerous companies have already reported that they are interested in corresponding offers for their employees. A Salzburg model company, has.to.be gmbh in Radstadt, has already installed a company kindergarten after detailed consultation. Other companies will follow this year. “We generally need more for employees, including practicable childcare options. That would help everyone, the parents and the companies,” Buchmüller advocates new paths.
Pleasing balance: teaching picks up again
“The dual training has proven to be crisis-proof,” emphasizes the Salzburg Chamber of Commerce President. Particularly pleasing: With an increase of 4% in apprenticeships, Salzburg continued the growth in apprenticeships in the previous year, which was interrupted by the corona pandemic in 2020. 2,308 young people started an apprenticeship last year. The increase of 4% is above the Austrian average: 33,189 apprentices started their training in Austria last year, 3.8% more than in 2020.
The total number of apprentices in Salzburg fell from 8,344 to 8,149 in 2021, an effect of the Corona crisis, which primarily affected apprenticeship training in tourism. But this year, this minus is noticeably smaller again. Because the number of apprenticeship trainees also increased in tourism and the leisure industry in 2021 – and at 17.4% (Austria +10.3%) it was above average. In almost all sectors of the Salzburg economy, the number of apprenticeship trainees increased, sometimes with double-digit growth rates.
Numerous open apprenticeships
Although the number of training companies has decreased slightly to 2,555 (-1.35%), these statistics include companies that are currently providing training. Many companies want to provide training but are unable to do so because they cannot find any apprentices at the moment. This is also proven by the number of vacancies: According to the AMS broadcast, 1,210 apprenticeship positions were registered at the end of December, compared to December 2020 and an increase of 80% compared to 2019. At the end of the year, there were 306 people looking for an apprenticeship.
For the year as a whole, the number of vacancies for apprenticeships increased by almost 21% compared to 2019. 1,075 positions were offered last year, an increase of 251 (60%) compared to 2020.
“The economy’s declining willingness to train is a myth. Blame is misplaced – we all need to work together to further strengthen dual education. We were already on the right track before Corona, and after Corona we should once again focus all our energy on securing apprenticeship training.” WKS President Buchmüller thanked AMS State Manager Jacqueline Beyer for her efforts, for example in adult training and for initiatives such as the 2021 apprenticeship challenge.
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