Unemployment in Austria continued to rise in December

The year 2013 ended on a bleak note for the economy and the job market. The number of people without jobs reached 428,143, which was an increase of 11.9 percent compared to November. Of these, 66,864 people were in job training programmes, which was 7.1 percent (or 4,407 people), more than during the previous month. Due to weak economic developments, the number of employees only rose slightly compared to November (by 10,000 people or 0.3 percent) to 3.346 million (Austrian population is 8.4 million). The biggest unemployment increases were among workers over the age of 50 (plus 23 percent), disabled people (28 percent) and non-Austrians (18 percent). People working in healthcare and social services and in retail were also hit hard in December (plus 17.9 and 16.6 percent unemployment respectively). But despite the ever-increasing unemployment rates in Austria, the alpine Republic was still at the top of the table in the EU (based on Eurostat figures from October, which are the most recent ones) with 4.8 percent.