Gächter, August

Territorial Employment Pacts (TEP s) are an EU initiative aimed at stabilising local and regional labour markets in selected European regions by promoting consensus and cooperation between all relevant local actors. In mid-1999, there are seven TEPs operational in six of Austria's nine provinces. The agreement on an eighth pact is expected by September 1999. In the two remaining provinces, Burgenland and Styria, TEPs are under preparation. Burgenland, which stretches along the Hungarian border, is the poorest province and has the highest unemployment rate, whilst Styria has the highest rate of long-term unemployment outside Vienna. The first three TEPs were initiated in the three westernmost provinces, all of which have relatively low unemployment. However, all three experienced a surge of long-term unemployment in 1997. The fourth, also initiated in 1997, covers Vienna [1] where unemployment is above the national average. These four pacts will all expire at the end of 1999 but will be renewed. The fifth pact, also in Vienna, and the only one linked explicitly to Austria's National Action Plan [2] (NAP) for employment implementing the EU Employment Guidelines [3] (AT9901120F [4]), took effect in autumn 1998 and will run until the end of 2004. The shortest-term pact covers Upper Austria- it is limited to the calendar year 1999 but will also be renewed. The TEP in Carinthia is scheduled to run for four years from the beginning of 1999 to the end of 2002. The TEP for Lower Austria will run from the beginning of 2000 until the end of 2004. [1] http://europa.eu.int/comm/pacts/en/list/63.htm [2] http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/empl&esf/naps99/napau_en.pdf [3] http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/empl&esf/empl99/guide_en.htm [4] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/labour-market-undefined/national-action-plan-on-employment-poses-challenges

Over the two-year period 1997-9, the social partners in Vienna and its city government have joined forces to develop a more innovative approach to Austria's most problem-ridden and least responsive labour market. In 1997 it contained more than half of the unemployed people whose unemployment lasted longer than 12 months and 42% of those whose unemployment lasted more than six months. The number of people registered as unemployed at some time over the year had risen by 1.4% over the 1996 level and made up 23% of the Austrian total, roughly equivalent to the capital's share in employment. However, the average number of people registered as unemployed stood at 29% of the Austrian total. Employment kept being created outside the city limits, centred in particular on the airport and the shopping and business parks. Industrial employment was continually being relocated to "greenfield" sites. No end to these structural disadvantages seemed in sight.

On 15 June 1999, the Austrian government failed to approve a legislative proposal for submission to parliament that would have removed the remaining legal differentiation between wage earners and salary earners (AT9801160N [1]). The two main distinctions that remain between them relate to compensation during sick leave and regulations governing dismissal (AT9903138N [2]). The Austrian Trade Union Federation (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund, ÖGB) and the Austrian Chamber of the Economy (Wirtschaftskammer Österreich, WKÖ) had failed to resolve their own differences on the question at a meeting on 9 June. WKÖ had submitted a number of counter-demands in exchange for harmonisation, including: [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/unions-seek-further-harmonisation-of-labour-law [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/labour-contract-act-under-negotiation

On 28 May 1999, the Austrian social partners agreed on the details required to unblock implementation of a half-time work scheme for older workers, in which the wage is topped up from unemployment insurance funds to 70% of the previous full-time wage (AT9711145N [1]). There will be two versions of the scheme, which it is hoped will attract 2,500 participants. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/part-time-work-for-older-workers

It seems increasingly unlikely that the Austrian coalition government will be able to agree on parental leave reform before the general elections due on 3 October 1999. The issue of flexible parental leave in the period until the child turns eight years old, as required by the EU Council Directive (96/34/EC) on parental leave [1] (AT9901128N [2]), is being entirely swamped by disagreements between the two government coalition partners over a wider reform. The Austrian People's Party (Österreichische Volkspartei, ÖVP) has made the demand for parental leave benefits for all mothers a central plank of its 1999 re-election campaign. The Austrian Social Democratic Party (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, SPÖ), however, is insisting that parental leave benefits should be a reimbursement for lost income to which non-working mothers should therefore have no entitlement. They countered the ÖVP's offensive by adopting a position of supporting "parental leave for all who need it to the degree that they need it". [1] http://europa.eu.int/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexapi!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=en&numdoc=31996L0034&model=guichett [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/new-rules-on-flexible-parental-leave

In 1993, some 300 female part-time employees in Austrian pharmacies - out of a total workforce of 3,200 - brought a court case seeking equal treatment. In pharmacies, two-thirds of employees work part time, and 95% of the part-timers are women. The minimum number of weekly working hours is eight (20% of the full-time week). Those who work full time move up one pay grade every second year, but part-time employees move up only in proportion to their working time. In other words, a "20%-employe"e moves up one pay grade only every 10 years. The Organisation of Employed Pharmacists in Austria (Organisation der Angestellten Apotheker Österreichs) considered this legal regulation - originally dating from 1928 and re-enacted in 1959 - to be in breach of EU rules on equal treatment for women and men. The European Court of Justice, to which the case was referred, agreed in June 1998 that there was discrimination, and the Austrian courts followed in April 1999. The additional costs arising from implementing the rulings will be moderate at an estimated ATS 11 million in compensation for income due to the pharmacy employees since June 1998 and about ATS 8 million per year from now on.

Long in the making (AT9901127N [1]), the Act to Combat Undeclared Work (Gesetz zur Bekämpfung von Schwarzarbeit) was rejected by the christian democrat caucus in the Austrian parliament on 28 April 1999. This in itself would not have ruled out a majority for the proposal, but it would have made it unlikely and the government would have split as the christian democratic Austrian People's Party (Österreichische Volkspartei, ÖVP) is the junior partner in the coalition. Controls will now be tightened within the framework of existing law. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/bill-aims-to-combat-organised-illegal-work

Preliminary data for 1998 indicate that the average number of days of sick leave taken by Austrian workers was 13.2, the same as the confirmed figure for 1997. In 1996, average duration was 14 days. Over the longer term, the gradual decline in the duration of sick leave appears to be continuing. Peaks were recorded in 1957 with 17.6 days and 1980 with 17.4. A more recent peak was 15.3 days during the period 1989 to 1991 (AT9802170N [1]). The data include all recipients of wages and salaries but exclude civil servants and most apprentices. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/decline-in-sick-leave-continues-in-1997

The Austrian government estimates that the total cost of the measures required across the country to meet the year 2000 lies in the range of between ATS 30 billion and ATS 60 billion. According to predictions made by the Credit Protection Association of 1870 (Kreditschutzverband von 1870, KSV), between 5% and 8% of Austrian firms will collapse in the aftermath of the "year 2000 problem" or "millenium bug" (the problems expected to hit computers when the date moves to 2000). KSV, with more than 20,000 members, is Austria's major credit protection and information agency. It estimates that over half of Austria's companies have not made any preparations and that less than one-fifth have already completed them. Of companies with an annual turnover of less than ATS 50 million, nearly two-thirds have done nothing. KSV believes that in most cases there will not now be enough time to come to terms with the problem before the end of 1999.

There are 17 private pension funds in operation in Austria. In 1998 their assets rose by 55% to ATS 68.5 billion. About 870 firms introduced company pension schemes in 1998, part of a total of 1,369 that signed first-time contracts with private pension funds. At the end of 1998, there were 4,820 companies which had a contract with a pension fund. The number of employees covered increased over the year by 29% to slightly more than 200,000, and pension recipients by 53% to 24,500. The value of pensions paid out during the year increased by 36% to ATS 1.9 billion. Among the 17 pension funds, there are seven that are not tied to a particular enterprise. Their assets grew to ATS 47 billion in 1998 and the annual contributions to ATS 2.6 billion.