Increase of Unemployment and Long-term Joblessness Since the Economic Crisis. Development, Causes and the Role of Company Recruitment – Synthesis Report

The situation is currently easing on the Austrian labour market. However, a difficult decade has left a lasting mark. Immediately after the outbreak of the crisis in 2008-09 and during a stagnation phase of the economy from 2012 onwards, unemployment rose particularly sharply, reaching a new record high. As a result of this development, it is still at a historically high level despite the current decline. Added to this is an almost tripling of the number of long-term jobless individuals. This synthesis report summarises the most important findings from two studies that were written against this background and combine quantitative and qualitative research methods: WIFO uses an analysis of developments over the past decade to identify the central causes of the rise and consolidation of unemployment and the policy options that can be derived from them. At the same time, FORBA examines practices of corporate personnel recruitment in Lower Austria from the perspective of companies, the unemployed and external recruitment agencies. According to this, especially those who have been unemployed for a long time have only limited chances of re-employment.