Austria's unemployment rate hits 11.5 pct in May

Source: Xinhua | 2020-06-03

More than half a million people have been out of work or in training by the end of May, bringing Austria's unemployment rate to 11.5 percent, announced the government on Tuesday.

The coronavirus crisis continues to lead to high unemployment in the Alpine country, which has a population of around 9 million. At the end of May, more than 517,000 people were unemployed or in training, which is 174,000 more than in the same month last year, said Labor Minister Christine Aschbacher at a joint press conference with Economy Minister Margarete Schrambock here Tuesday morning.

Aschbacher said that the revival of the economy partially led to a relaxation of the job market. Compared to the end of March, 45,000 people have found a job again, she said.

Aschbacher said that 1.3 million people are on short-time work. So far, 3,581 applications have been submitted by companies and 10 billion euros (11.17 billion U.S. dollars) in support have been approved.

Minister Schrambock referred to the government-provided apprentice bonus scheme, under which every company that recruits apprentices by the end of October will receive a bonus of 2,000 euros (2,233 U.S. dollars) per apprentice.

"10,000 apprenticeships are at stake in Austria because of the coronavirus. If we don't take countermeasures, the shortage of skilled workers will worsen in the coming years," said the minister.