Industry warns:

Demand for goods “Made in Austria” is falling

(Bild: APA/Skórzewiak)

The Chamber of Commerce and industry have long been warning of Austria's declining competitiveness. In addition to the migration of domestic companies abroad, the declining demand for products "Made in Austria" is also causing great concern.

"We have reached a tipping point where many of our customers no longer want to or can no longer afford Austria," said Georg Knill, President of the Federation of Austrian Industries, at the Club of Economic Journalists in Vienna on Wednesday. Domestic industrial products had become more expensive due to the high collective bargaining agreements, energy prices and ancillary wage costs in international comparison. 

Georg Knill, President of the Federation of Austrian Industries

(Bild: Zwefo)

In order to make Austria more competitive again as an industrial location, the IV has long been calling for a reduction in non-wage labor costs and reforms in the areas of labor, education, bureaucracy and pensions. Without improvements to the location, domestic industrial companies would have to relocate production abroad or reduce the number of employees in Austria. Deindustrialization due to "a lack of competitiveness" is already beginning, warned the IV President and half-owner of the Styrian Knill Group.

(Bild: APA/HANS KLAUS TECHT)

Criticism of the SPÖ's "communist manifesto"
Knill also took up the debate fueled by the SPÖ about a reduction in working hours and offered a counterpoint: an increase in daily working hours - 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the afternoon - could already have significant positive effects on the social system and the country's prosperity. According to an EcoAustria study, such an increase would boost real gross domestic product (GDP) by 1.2 percent.

All parliamentary parties reject an increase in the standard working week to 41 hours. The IV boss had little sympathy for the "24 ideas for Austria" presented by SPÖ leader Andreas Babler at the end of April. "It's a communist manifesto. He's a long way from the center."