Unemployment continues to rise, but so do more working women over 60

The Unemployment in Austria is in the first quarter of 2026 increased. This is shown by Statistics Austria’s microcensus labor force survey. Accordingly, 301,900 people were looking for work, 17,700 more than in the same quarter of the previous year. The non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.3 percent. The Number of employed people increased around 24,800, reflecting increases in the Women aged 60 to 64 and at the Part-time employment is attributable.

“The increase in employment was largely due to women in the older age groups,” the general director of statistics at Statistics Austria, Manuela Lenk, was quoted as saying in a press release. In the group of 60 to 64-year-old women, there was an increase of 20,200 employees compared to the first three months of the previous year. This means that the employment rate for women of this age increased by 5.4 percentage points, “which is mainly due to the gradual Raising the retirement age for women is connected,” says Lenk.

The employment rate, i.e. the proportion of employed people among all people aged 15 to 64, rose slightly by 0.4 percentage points to 73.9 percent. The rate of 60 to 64 year olds increased particularly sharply. In the first quarter of 2026, 40.2 percent of this age group were employed, 3.0 percentage points more than in the same period the year before.

Since January 1, 2024, the retirement age for women has been gradually raised. While before the increase began (first quarter of 2023), not even one in five women (18.7 percent) in this age group was employed, currently one in three (32.2 percent) is, according to Statistics Austria. Among men, the increase from 46.5 to 48.3 percent was significantly weaker during this period.

The importance of part-time is increasing again

After a decline in the previous year, the importance of part-time work increased again in the first three months of this year. The increase in the number of employed people is solely due to the significant increase in part-time employment, it goes on to say. Accordingly, the number of part-time workers increased by 40,200, while full-time employment fell by 15,400. In general, it is predominantly women who work part-time. In the first quarter of 2026, 50.7 percent of all employed women said they worked part-time. For men it was only 14.6 percent.

The non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose slightly by 0.3 percentage points to 6.3 percent compared to the same quarter last year, although the increase was lower for men than for women. What was particularly noticeable was the increase in the unemployment rate among 25- to 34-year-old women to 7.4 percent (+1.9 percentage points).