Small Regional Variations in Economic Activity at the Lower Turning Point

The cyclical downswing which depressed economic growth in the Western provinces is leveling off. In the third quarter of 1993, production in Western Austria (+0.2 percent) as well as in Eastern Austria (—0.1 percent) stabilized around last year's level; in the South, business remained sluggish (—0.6 percent) because of structural weaknesses in Styria. In the third quarter of 1993, economic growth in Austria's provinces (with the exception of Burgenland and Styria) ranged in a narrow band of ½ percentage point around the average rate (—0.1 percent). The export oriented manufacturing firms in Western Austria continue to be negatively affected by the decline in exports to the European Economic Area, but in the course of the recovery those structural weaknesses that are exposed by the new division of labor between Western and Eastern Europe are likely to become more important. Styria's economy, in particular, has lagged behind because of depressed prices of raw materials and the degradation of the locations of labor-intensive light manufacturing in peripheral regions. The construction sector helped to stabilize overall economic activity in the third quarter but showed great regional variation as a result of regional differences in government housing programs. The high growth rate in Burgenland (+3.5 percent) is due to a doubling of the value of road and housing construction put in place. The plunge in the number of foreign tourists from devaluating countries (arrivals in the summer season —5.1 percent, of which foreign tourists excluding Germans —11.8 percent) affected mainly the regions of intensive tourism in Western Austria and in Carinthia; the unfavorable development in Vienna reflects the weakness of international city tourism. Suppliers of sophisticated services were able to gain a head start in Western Austria; in Vienna, however, suppliers of such services as well as of more traditional services and wholesalers and retailers continue to suffer from a slack in business. So far the demand for labor has reacted relatively feebly to the weakness in the goods market; regional differences have been smoothed over by an extremely elastic supply of labor. In the province of Vorarlberg, however, the return of frontier commuters has markedly increased unemployment.