Determinants of the Rise of Unemployment in Austria

Throughout the 1990s, the labour market has shown an unfavourable development, with unemployment noticeably on the increase. Until 1997, the main reasons underlying this development were a relatively low average rate of economic growth, the 1993 recession, and strong productivity increases in the private sector. In 1997-98, however, unemployment continued to rise despite a favourable economic development. This was due, above all, to the substantially increased labour supply (shortened period of entitlement to parental leave allowance, a more restrictive policy regarding early retirement), the emphasis on part-time employment in the service sector, as well as staff cuts (public sector) and restructuring measures (headquarters of large industrial and service enterprises) in Vienna.