The economic assessments of Austrian companies declined in November in the course of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated restrictions. The WIFO business climate index fell by 5.2 points and was more clearly in negative territory with –14.7 points. Companies assessed the current economic situation worse and business expectations for the coming months became more sceptical. The economic assessment was particularly pessimistic in tourism, transport and consumer goods industries.

A recent WIFO study by Thomas Leoni, Martin Spielauer and Peter Reschenhofer highlights the connection between the unequal use of the healthcare system by different educational groups over the life course and the resulting implications for the future development of healthcare costs, also against the background of changes in life expectancy and educational composition of the population.

The current assessment of the Weekly WIFO Economic Index (WWWI) points to an increasing weakening of the economic recovery: On a monthly average the indicator fell slightly in October (–3.5 percent). For the year 2020, taking into account the restrictions imposed by the government (second lockdown from 3 November 2020, tightened on 17 November), a current WIFO Research Brief also provides a preliminary assessment for the year as a whole.

The economy is expected to shrink by 7.7 percent in 2020, instead of 6.8 percent as forecast in October. 0.6 percentage points of this additional slump are attributable to the hotel and restaurant sector, the rest mainly to (voluntary) consumption cuts in other sectors. In 2021, GDP is expected to expand by only 2.8 percent instead of 4.4 percent according to the WIFO forecast of October.

After half a year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the consequences for employment are still noticeable. In September, employment loss was lower than in spring but still 1 percent compared to the previous year's level. In addition, after the peak in May with over 1.3 million registered cases of short-time work, around 300,000 employees were still registered for short-time work in September.