The Production of Glassware in Tyrol

The following report deals with the production of glass and glassware in the province of Tyrol, which has a long tradition and is still of particular importance in the region today. In 2018, it employed around 6,500 persons, around 11 percent of those employed in the Tyrolean manufacturing sector. If indirect effects via supplier relationships are included, there are around 9,600 employees (8,700 of them in Tyrol) associated with the glass industry in Tyrol – a figure that increases to almost 18,000 (Tyrol: 14,000) if the induced effects of income and company profits are also estimated. The Tyrolean glass industry (which, in addition to glass production, also includes the smaller sectors of abrasives production and the manufacture of optical devices) has lost a considerable amount of employment in the last 15 years, especially in glass production: from almost 6,500 employees before the financial crisis of 2008-09 to only around 3,500 in the first half of 2021. A further reduction in jobs seems possible; the indirect effects of a reduction of 2,000 employees are estimated (for Austria as a whole) at around 1,000. It is not clear whether and to what extent the regional labour market would be overwhelmed by this: The job reductions of the last few years could be handled relatively well; a further reduction, especially on the scale mentioned, would probably be more difficult, especially if production were also reduced and suppliers were also more strongly affected.