28.09.2020

COVID-19 Pandemic: Summer Tourism Dampens Employment Losses

WIFO Research Brief by Julia Bock-Schappelwein, Oliver Fritz, Ulrike Huemer and Walter Hyll

The measures taken by the government to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic caused the greatest job losses in the accommodation and food service activities sector. In March 2020, they corresponded to almost half of the overall reduction in employment of 180,000. The reduction in the number of active dependent employees declined noticeably at the beginning of the peak summer season.

In July, the level of employment was 2.1 percent lower than in the previous year, and in August it was 1.1 percent lower. Although part of the reduction in employment in the accommodation and food service activities sector has been compensated, the level of employment in August was still significantly lower than in the previous year. On a regional level, the loss of employment in the accommodation sector varied greatly during the peak summer season. With the absence of guests from Austria and abroad, Vienna recorded the highest employment losses and Carinthia the comparatively lowest thanks to the demand from domestic guests. Food service activities also recorded a decline in employment in all Länder.