Austrian unemployment rate rises to 10.3 pct in Feb.

The Austrian unemployment rate continued to rise in February reaching 10.3 percent, the Ministry of Social Affairs stated Monday.

The figures are 5.8 percent higher than February 2014. But despite the increased number of unemployed, 23,000 more people were employed than during February last year.

The ministry stated in a press release that pressures on the employment market by a larger number of job seekers were outweighing the benefits of new job openings.

Most affected by the unemployment increases were foreign nationals, with their unemployment rate up 20.5 percent, along with persons aged 50 and older (up 14.6 percent), and the disabled (up 15.4 percent).

The jobless rate for young people aged 15 to 24 years increased less significantly, however, at 6.8 percent, while the overall increase for both men and women was almost the same, up 11.6 percent and 11.1 percent respectively.

Vienna saw a large spike in unemployment, at 20.4 percent year-on-year, followed by the state of Salzburg with a 12.4 increase. The lowest increases were recorded in Carinthia (1.3 percent) and Burgenland (3.5 percent). Endit