Annual Average of Monthly Registered Unemployment Data by Sex as well as Unemployment Rates in Austria (Jahresdurchschnitt aus den Monatswerten der vorgemerkten Arbeitslosen nach Geschlecht sowie Arbeitslosenraten in Österreich).
Unemployment:
Unemployment:
The Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs (Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales Bundeskanzleramt - BMAS) is responsible for data collection, statistical processing and publication of the data. The Central Statistical Office (Österreichisches Statistisches Zentralamt) also publishes the data in the form of absolute figures and unemployment rates.
The data from this series cover the whole country and are collected through 110 labour offices and branches in the different regions of the country. The minimum age limit is 15 years with no maximum age limit applied as long as the persons are actually available for work. Persons in paid employment, (i.e. "the dependent employed"), all occupational groups, Austrian nationals and foreigners living in the coun try are covered.
The series is monthly and started in January 1948.
Unemployment: The registered unemployed are those persons without work (a job) who apply for registration at a labour office and who are available for a job.
Persons seeking part-time work and persons who regularly do seasonal work, first-time jobseekers, re-entrants to the workforce and employable disabled persons are included in the series. Similarly, persons responsible for the loss of their last job and persons on strike who have lost their job, are included. Persons receiving invalidity benefits or retirement and other pensions are only included in the series if they are seeking work and are actually available for work. Persons on temporary or indefinite lay-off without pay are also included (this does not refer to people on maternity or similar leaves as they are not considered unemployed).
Students seeking temporary employment during vacations are excluded as well as all other people seeking only temporary work, unless this kind of work (e.g. seasonal work) is typical for them. Persons who work more than approximately 12 hours per week are considered as in employment and are thus excluded from the data.
Registration: The voluntary visit to a labour office to apply for inclusion in the unemployment register. In order to maintain registration such visits should be in person and on a monthly basis. The act of registration is not connected to the level of previous earnings, nor does it automatically entitle a person to any benefits. Receivers of unemployment benefits, however, must be registered.
Deletion from the register: Persons are deleted from the register and thus automatically from the unemployment statistics in the event of temporary inability to work due to illness, accident, other leave, holidays etc., or in the case of refusal to fulfill the register maintenance requirements and visits. Participation in State-assisted training schemes or job creation measures also leads to deletion, although refusal to participate in such programmes does not entail deletion. Similarly the rejection of job offers does not entail deletion, although it may have consequences on unemployment benefits. Persons who have committed fraud remain on the register and thus in the statistics unless they are imprisoned because of it.
The reference period is each month. Final compilation of the data takes place at the end of each month.
The electronic data processing (EDP) system allows for online data collection from all regions, which is received at the BMAS. Every month an inventory of the register of each region is carried out by the employees of the regional labour offices, consisting of a manual process. Errors are corrected on the spot (via EDP) and some tests are automated. Statistical evaluations are performed on these unemployment data using quarterly Microcensus data and statistics of Unemployment Benefits.
Unemployment rates are computed and published monthly with the absolute numbers of registered unemployed. The unemployment rate is computed as a percentage of the "dependent employed" (persons in paid employment) plus the unemployed for the same month.
Up to 1972 claimants for old age pensions or invalidity pensions were included in the unemployment data whether they were job seeking or not. Up to 1974 women after maternity leave who applied for registration were included whether they were job seeking or not. Up to 1976 persons involved in training programmes were usually also included in the unemployment data.
Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales Bundeskanzleramt "Ämtliche Nachrichten", Arbeit-Gesundheid-Soziales (monthly) (Vienna, 1988).
Österreichisches Statistisches Zentralamt "Statistische Übersichten" (monthly) (Vienna, 1988).
Each issue of these publications contains data from the previous month. No methodological publications have been issued.