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Unemployment in Austria highest since 1950s

The Local Austria
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Unemployment in Austria highest since 1950s
Photo: AMS_Petra Spiola

Unemployment in Austria rose to a new record high in August with a total of 389,000 people out of work, although it is lower than the EU average.

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It is an increase of one percent compared with the same month last year and an increase of 42% over a period of five years, although it increase was described as “relatively light” by a spokesperson from the Austrian job centre (AMS).  

“The building and industry sectors as well as temporary employment benefit from the apparently stronger than predicted economy,” said AMS board member Johannes Kopf.

Although low compared to other countries in the EU, Austria’s unemployment rate has been steadily increasing for several years.

It is currently around 8.3%, which is the highest it has been since the 1950s but it still lower than the average rate of unemployment in Europe (9.6%).

Vienna was the Austrian state that saw the biggest increase in unemployment with a rise of 3.8%, followed by Lower Austria (3.1%) and Burgenland (2.1%).

Unemployment fell in all other provinces, with the biggest drops in Tyrol and Salzburg.

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