Sharp increase

More than 46,000 Upper Austrians are without a job

The unemployment rate in February was 6.8 percent.

(Bild: Patrick Huber)

The number of unemployed people in Upper Austria remains high. Compared to January, the number of job seekers fell by 2749 people. However, compared to the previous year, there was a huge increase. With more than 46,000 Upper Austrians, 19.8 percent more were unemployed.

46,518 Upper Austrians were without jobs in February 2025, plus 10,789 who were in training - the figures published by the Upper Austrian Public Employment Service on Monday morning were an improvement on the previous month, but still show a significant year-on-year increase in job seekers. In February 2024, there were "only" 38,835 people looking for work in the province above the Enns.

"At 6.4 percent, Upper Austria has the lowest unemployment rate of the non-seasonal federal states, although the decline in employment is most pronounced in our federal state," says Markus Litzlbauer, Deputy Managing Director of AMS Upper Austria.

The focus of the Public Employment Service is on stabilizing long-term unemployment - "and on the sustainable integration of young adults," says Litzlbauer.

The ball is in the court of the new federal government
Politicians are alarmed by the development. "Upper Austria is currently the sad hotspot of unemployment. In no other federal state has it skyrocketed so massively. And it is entering the next rung of the dramatic ladder. There is nothing to gloss over," emphasizes Ulrike Schwarz, labour market spokesperson for the Greens in Upper Austria. "It is up to the new federal government to implement the measures mentioned in the program to stimulate the economy as well as the stipulated increase in the AMS budget and other initiatives for the labor market as quickly as possible," emphasize Governor Thomas Stelzer and Markus Achleitner (both ÖVP). "The qualification measures of our AMS in the here and now are of central importance," says Neos state spokesman Felix Eypeltauer.

The number of job vacancies rose from 19,033 in January to 19,909 in February, although this represents a significant decrease of 15.6 percent compared to February 2024.