Employment in the Trade Sector

This project examines the development of working hours in the Austrian wholesale and retail sector. The focus of interest is on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on working hours. In detail, the introductory part of the study will use the data set of the Federation of Social Insurances to analyse employment trends in the individual trade subsectors between 2008 and 2021 in order to reveal the different ways in which the subsectors are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the main part of the study will use data from the Austrian Labour Force Survey to examine the development of employment as a function of the extent of working hours (part-time, full-time employment) separately by gender and age, in order to answer the overarching question of whether COVID-19 has changed the organisation of working hours in the trade sector.