Oh My Vienna is starting the new year with a new series of articles called ‘Short Questions and Answers About Austria‘.
Short articles that will answer a question you may have about Austria quickly, without you needing to wade through 1,000-plus words to find out.
Kicking off the series is our first question and subsequent answer, with a longer description below if you would like more details.
Question: What is the unemployment rate in Austria as of January 1st, 2023?
Answer: Until the new unemployment rate is released by the Austrian government later this month, the official current unemployment rate in Austria as of January 1st, 2023 stands at 7.4 percent.
That rate increased from 6.2 percent in November to 7.4 percent in December, and is the highest rate since January 2022 when the rate was at 8.1 percent.
The number of people who were registered as unemployed in Austria in December was 309,653 out of a population of just over 9 million.
Interestingly, there are more men than women currently unemployed, with an 8.6 percent unemployment rate for men compared to a 6 percent unemployment rate for women.
Will unemployment numbers improve or worsen in 2023?
The number of unemployed people in Austria is likely to rise higher in the early months of 2023, however, due to many businesses reporting lower sales than expected through the 2022 Christmas and New Year season and, thus, an increased need to layoff staff in the new year.
Due to lower sales, the manufacturing sector is also likely to slip into recession in 2023 causing even more layoffs going forward.
With the economy, at least in the first half of 2023, expected to be poor with ‘stagflation’ even being mentioned by some economists, it could be towards the end of the year before things begin to pick up.
According to the Austrian Institute of Economic Research, if stagflation does occur, it will be the first time the Alpine country has experienced it since the 1970s.