{"id":449562,"date":"2026-06-18T16:33:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T14:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wifo.ac.at\/publication\/449562\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T16:33:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T14:33:47","slug":"economic-slowdown-and-uncertainty-continue-to-shape-the-austrian-labour-market-2","status":"publish","type":"publication","link":"https:\/\/www.wifo.ac.at\/en\/publication\/449562\/","title":{"rendered":"Economic Slowdown and Uncertainty Continue to Shape the Austrian Labour Market"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-449562","publication","type-publication","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"subtitle":"","text":"In 2025, Austria recorded a modest recovery following two years of recession, with inflation-adjusted GDP expanding by 0.6 percent. Growth was uneven throughout the year, with periods of expansion alternating with phases of stagnation. Export activity and industrial output gained momentum, while the contraction in the construction sector moderated relative to the preceding year. Inflation remained elevated at 3.6 percent, exerting downward pressure on real household incomes. As in 2024, the lingering effects of the recession constrained employment growth to just 0.2 percent. While the pace of increase in unemployment decelerated somewhat in the second half of 2025, the unemployment rate rose once again on an annual average. The number of job vacancies continued to decline. In spring 2026, employment growth accelerated relative to the previous year. Although the rise in unemployment has recently moderated, the uncertainty stemming from the war with Iran poses a risk to the sustainable stabilisation of the labour market.","onlinedate":"2026-06-18 14:33:20","lang":"English","publication_series":"","publication_date":"20260618","publication_date_year":"","publication_date_full":true,"publication_num_pages":"14","keywords":"[\"Labour market\",\"unemployment\",\"employment\"]","jelcodes":"[\"E24\",\"J21\",\"J63\"]","related_publications":"[\"ce3f9566-778b-4151-9967-60cd942396e1\"]","pdf":450185,"zip":null,"link":"","monthly_report":true,"monthly_report_main":false,"monthly_report_volume":"","monthly_report_pages":"","monthly_report_pages_sort":"0","issue":"8","journal":"WIFO Reports on Austria","publisher":"","invisible":false,"external":false,"embargo_date":null,"types":[44424],"research_groups":[3510],"collaboration":"","persons":[3822,3581],"persons_data":"[{\"personId\":3822,\"personName\":\"Julia Bock-Schappelwein\",\"organisationNames\":[]},{\"personId\":3581,\"personName\":\"Rainer Eppel\",\"organisationNames\":[]}]","clients":[],"subclients":[],"partners":[],"topics":[],"host_publication_title":"","host_publication_subtitle":"","place_of_publication":"","host_publication_editors":"[]","type_description":"","output_media":"","chapter":"","article_number":"","citations":"{\"apa\":\"<div class=\\\"rendering rendering_researchoutput  rendering_researchoutput_apa rendering_contributiontoperiodical rendering_apa rendering_contributiontoperiodical_apa\\\"><span>Bock-Schappelwein, J.<\\\/span><span>, &amp; Eppel, R.<\\\/span> (2026). <span>Economic Slowdown and Uncertainty Continue to Shape the Austrian Labour Market<\\\/span>. <span><em>WIFO Reports on Austria<\\\/em><\\\/span>, (8).<\\\/div>\",\"vancouver\":\"<div class=\\\"rendering rendering_researchoutput  rendering_researchoutput_vancouver rendering_contributiontoperiodical rendering_vancouver rendering_contributiontoperiodical_vancouver\\\"><span>Bock-Schappelwein J<\\\/span><span>, Eppel R<\\\/span>. <span class=\\\"title\\\"><span>Economic Slowdown and Uncertainty Continue to Shape the Austrian Labour Market<\\\/span><\\\/span>. <span>WIFO Reports on Austria<\\\/span>. 2026 Jun 18;(8).<\\\/div>\",\"bibtex\":\"<div class=\\\"rendering rendering_researchoutput  rendering_researchoutput_bibtex rendering_contributiontoperiodical rendering_bibtex rendering_contributiontoperiodical_bibtex\\\"><div>@misc{2718b74e316149baa00e384de2a47df0,<\\\/div><div>  title    = \\\"Economic Slowdown and Uncertainty Continue to Shape the Austrian Labour Market\\\",<\\\/div><div>  abstract = \\\"In 2025, Austria recorded a modest recovery following two years of recession, with inflation-adjusted GDP expanding by 0.6 percent. Growth was uneven throughout the year, with periods of expansion alternating with phases of stagnation. Export activity and industrial output gained momentum, while the contraction in the construction sector moderated relative to the preceding year. Inflation remained elevated at 3.6 percent, exerting downward pressure on real household incomes. As in 2024, the lingering effects of the recession constrained employment growth to just 0.2 percent. While the pace of increase in unemployment decelerated somewhat in the second half of 2025, the unemployment rate rose once again on an annual average. The number of job vacancies continued to decline. In spring 2026, employment growth accelerated relative to the previous year. Although the rise in unemployment has recently moderated, the uncertainty stemming from the war with Iran poses a risk to the sustainable stabilisation of the labour market.\\\",<\\\/div><div>  keywords = \\\"Labour market, unemployment, employment\\\",<\\\/div><div>  author   = \\\"Julia Bock-Schappelwein and Rainer Eppel\\\",<\\\/div><div>  year     = \\\"2026\\\",<\\\/div><div>  month    = jun,<\\\/div><div>  day      = \\\"18\\\",<\\\/div><div>  language = \\\"English\\\",<\\\/div><div>  journal  = \\\"WIFO Reports on Austria\\\",<\\\/div><p>}<\\\/p><\\\/div>\",\"ris\":\"<div class=\\\"rendering rendering_researchoutput  rendering_researchoutput_ris rendering_contributiontoperiodical rendering_ris rendering_contributiontoperiodical_ris\\\"><p>TY  - GEN<\\\/p><p>T1  - Economic Slowdown and Uncertainty Continue to Shape the Austrian Labour Market<\\\/p><p>AU  - Bock-Schappelwein, Julia<\\\/p><p>AU  - Eppel, Rainer<\\\/p><p>PY  - 2026\\\/6\\\/18<\\\/p><p>Y1  - 2026\\\/6\\\/18<\\\/p><p>N2  - In 2025, Austria recorded a modest recovery following two years of recession, with inflation-adjusted GDP expanding by 0.6 percent. Growth was uneven throughout the year, with periods of expansion alternating with phases of stagnation. Export activity and industrial output gained momentum, while the contraction in the construction sector moderated relative to the preceding year. Inflation remained elevated at 3.6 percent, exerting downward pressure on real household incomes. As in 2024, the lingering effects of the recession constrained employment growth to just 0.2 percent. While the pace of increase in unemployment decelerated somewhat in the second half of 2025, the unemployment rate rose once again on an annual average. The number of job vacancies continued to decline. In spring 2026, employment growth accelerated relative to the previous year. Although the rise in unemployment has recently moderated, the uncertainty stemming from the war with Iran poses a risk to the sustainable stabilisation of the labour market.<\\\/p><p>AB  - In 2025, Austria recorded a modest recovery following two years of recession, with inflation-adjusted GDP expanding by 0.6 percent. Growth was uneven throughout the year, with periods of expansion alternating with phases of stagnation. Export activity and industrial output gained momentum, while the contraction in the construction sector moderated relative to the preceding year. Inflation remained elevated at 3.6 percent, exerting downward pressure on real household incomes. As in 2024, the lingering effects of the recession constrained employment growth to just 0.2 percent. While the pace of increase in unemployment decelerated somewhat in the second half of 2025, the unemployment rate rose once again on an annual average. The number of job vacancies continued to decline. In spring 2026, employment growth accelerated relative to the previous year. Although the rise in unemployment has recently moderated, the uncertainty stemming from the war with Iran poses a risk to the sustainable stabilisation of the labour market.<\\\/p><p>KW  - Labour market<\\\/p><p>KW  - unemployment<\\\/p><p>KW  - employment<\\\/p><p>M3  - WIFO series<\\\/p><p>JO  - WIFO Reports on Austria<\\\/p><p>JF  - WIFO Reports on Austria<\\\/p><p>ER  - <\\\/p><\\\/div>\"}","scientific_assistance":"[\"Fuchs Stefan\",\"Lorenz Christoph\"]","scientific_review":"[\"Horvath Gerard Thomas\"]","version":"","release_date":null,"expiration_date":null,"surveyor":"","research_assistance":"","edv":"","additional_info_de":"","additional_info_en":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.0 (Yoast SEO v28.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Economic Slowdown and Uncertainty Continue to Shape the Austrian Labour Market - WIFO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wifo.ac.at\/en\/publication\/449562\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Economic Slowdown and Uncertainty Continue to Shape the Austrian Labour Market\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wifo.ac.at\/en\/publication\/449562\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WIFO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WIFOat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-26T14:33:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wifo.ac.at\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/WIFO-Gebaeude-FotoAlexanderMueller-www.alexandermueller.at-IMG_6326-Bearbeitet-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@WIFOat\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.wifo.ac.at\\\/en\\\/publication\\\/449562\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.wifo.ac.at\\\/en\\\/publication\\\/449562\\\/\",\"name\":\"Economic Slowdown and Uncertainty Continue to Shape the Austrian Labour Market - 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