An economy undergoing structural change may be interpreted as indicating changing skill demands by firms. In Austria structural change signals that Austria's historical specialisation in sectors characterised by medium-skill intensity is complemented by strongly growing skill-intensive sectors. Sectors of only low skill intensity are in a steep decline. In all sectors, Austria is in a position high up on the quality ladder, which means that Austria is specialising in the knowledge-intensive segments of these industries. Both trends – structural change towards skill-intensive industries and a climb up the quality ladder – indicate rising demand for higher qualifications. The high position on the quality ladder of industries helps explain Austria's good macroeconomic performance even though it specialises in sectors regarded as "traditional". Measured by its per-capita GDP, Austria has firmly established itself among the top five countries of the EU. Its education and training system, however, faces a double challenge: it needs to provide both a relatively greater share of higher qualifications for the rising demand of skill-intensive industries and an increasing share of vocational, medium-level skills, while the demand for low qualifications continues to decrease.