AMS chief Kopf warns of incorrect structures due to short-term work – Coronavirus Vienna

Part-time work should not “preserve” the wrong structures, otherwise they would become an obstacle to long-term reforms, warns AMS chief Johannes Kopf. As an example, he cites employees in the city’s hotel industry, which has been hit hard by the corona pandemic, who would be better off in a popular job in the Alpine regions rather than a short-term job.

The number of businesses that are hardly viable, but that are being rescued during a certain period of time after the crisis, is “every day more”. Next spring, a short-term outlet will have to be found. Otherwise, there is a risk that tax revenues will be wasted on non-viable businesses, according to Kopf on Saturday in the “Ö1-Mittagsjournal”.

The pandemic will continue to have an effect for years to come, especially for the long-term unemployed, who “don’t like being invited to job interviews”, even in good economic times. Among young people, the situation developed differently. In confinement, they were often the first to be fired, but also the first to find a job again. An expansion of inter-company training for young people who cannot find an apprenticeship is good, but employment in the “real economy” would be better, the employment service board explained. On the issue of the planned Corona labor foundation, which was criticized today by ÖGB President Wolfgang Katzian, Kopf is confident about the upcoming talks with the social partners and the federal government.

The high unemployment among foreigners is also due to their short time in their companies: it is easier to part with employees who have not known each other for so long. The shorter length of stay can be explained, on the one hand, by the industries in which many foreigners work, for example in tourism and temporary work, and on the other hand, by the fact that after a while they often they become Austrian citizens.

As every year, unemployment will increase in winter. The maximum value is traditionally reached in January, here there could be around half a million job seekers, if there is no lock. If no coronavirus drug is found in the coming months, or at least not in development, then Kopf fears a recession with “massive consequences.”

But even with medical advances, there will be changes in the job market: home office with keywords and shared desktop. Because one of the realizations of the last months is: those who work at home are not lazy, so Kopf.

At the end of September the number of job seekers was 408,853, 74,389 more than a year ago. The crown-related peak was reached in mid-April this year with 588,000 job seekers. There has been a whole series of bad news from the industry recently. The Graz-based engine manufacturer AVL List, the state-owned Casinos Austria, the German automotive supplier Mahle with its Carinthian plant in St. Michael ob Bleiburg, the aircraft supplier FACC, the Doka formwork technology company MAN Steyr, the traditional Vienna hotel Sacher, Mayr-Melnhof, voestalpine and Swarovski announced a significant reduction.