Hundreds of thousands without a job: unemployment is rising, especially among women

“While construction has seen falling unemployment figures and industrial unemployment has largely stabilized, unemployment in trade and in health and social services, i.e. in two areas in which women are predominantly employed, is still rising significantly,” said AMS boss Johannes Kopf on Monday, according to the announcement. Accordingly, the number of women registered, including training participants, rose by 4.9 percent, while among men there was a decline of 1.6 percent.

More than 103,000 people cannot find a job for a long time

The biggest challenge currently is long-term unemployment. At the end of April, 103,322 people were without a job for a long time, which corresponds to a significant increase of 13.3 percent. The average duration of unemployment has increased by 10 days to 134 days.

In addition to the unemployment figures, there are also the first signs of an economic recovery. The number of employed people is estimated to have increased by 23,000 year-on-year to almost 3.96 million. The number of new vacancies also showed signs of a slight recovery, with an increase of 5.9 percent. Labor Minister Korinna Schumann (SPÖ) wants to take targeted offensive measures for the labor market despite the general pressure to save money. “No one should be left behind,” said the minister, according to the statement.