Austrian unemployment rate not expected to fall for 2 years: employment service head

The head of the Public Employment Service Austria (AMS) Johannes Kopf said he believes unemployment in Austria will not fall over the next two years.

In an interview with the Wiener Zeitung newspaper for its Friday edition, Kopf said the new government tax reforms will create 10,000 to 20,000 new jobs, but that this will only milden the unemployment increase.

He said the reason neighboring Germany now has better employment figures than Austria is that along with better economic growth, Germany also has a shrinking work force, while Austria has seen significantly more workers immigrating to the country. Endit