The Red-White-Red Card (RWR), which allows workers to come to Austria from outside the European Economic Area, was reformed last autumn. These simplifications have had an effect: a total of 3,100 cards have been issued in Austria since the beginning of the year, 45 percent more than in the previous year. With 848 cards, twice as many permits were issued in Upper Austria in the first half of the year as in 2022.
According to figures from the Upper Austrian labor market service, almost every second holder of the RWR card comes from the Western Balkans region. Bosnia-Herzegovina is the leader, followed at some distance by Serbia and Kosovo. The top occupational groups in the first half of 2023 were executives such as managing directors or operations managers, data processing technicians and cooks.
Despite the positive development, the Upper Austrian Chamber of Commerce has not given the all-clear regarding the shortage of workers and skilled workers. President Doris Hummer describes the forthcoming wave of retirements, coupled with the change in the world of work towards more part-time work, as a “dangerous mixture for the location”.
Own contingent for 5000 people from the Western Balkans
Based on a model from Germany, she is calling for a separate contingent for workers from the Western Balkans. Up to 5,000 people should be allowed to take up any job in Austria without a “complicated procedure”. Another demand: About 1000 young people from the age of 18 should be able to start an apprenticeship in Austria.
This proposal is already in the Council of Ministers – but it was not decided before the summer break as planned. “We don’t have forever. Every month we lose hurts the location,” says Hummer. Industrial companies are already “quietly and secretly” migrating by relocating production steps to other countries.
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Economic area Upper Austria
“The economy is bubbling, impatience is rising”
LINZ. WKO President Doris Hummer talks about alienation, retro politics and recession in an interview.
“The economy is bubbling, impatience is rising”
Currently every second truck driver in Upper Austria is 50 years or older, 2000 drivers are already missing. The IT industry is looking in vain for around 1,600 specialists. Industry is also badly affected: 96 percent of companies lack workers, but according to the Chamber of Commerce, the RWR card is only used by a little more than a third of Upper Austrian companies. One obstacle is the bureaucracy.
“Jungle of Deadlines”
A separate working group on the subject was set up in the Upper Austrian Chamber of Commerce. 50 companies are represented there, including the technology company Dynatrace from Linz and the Peneder Group with locations in Atzbach and Fraham. At Dynatrace, 30 percent of the more than 4,000 employees are already so-called “internationals”, so the company’s founder Sok-Kheng Taing says that growth cannot be managed otherwise.
She demands that the path to the RWR card must be digitized. There are often problems with the assignment of job titles, which differ greatly depending on the country. The family business Peneder, which mainly produces fire protection doors, would like to train third-country nationals in its own training workshop, but sees itself confronted with a “jungle of deadlines, responsibilities and requirements”. From autumn, the Chamber of Commerce wants to provide its members with more support in the search for international employees and their integration into the company.
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Kocher: The influx of skilled workers is to increase to 15,000 per year by 2027
VIENNA. Economics and Labor Minister Martin Kocher (ÖVP) wants at least 15,000 skilled workers from countries per year by 2027 via the red-white-red card.
Kocher: The influx of skilled workers is to increase to 15,000 per year by 2027
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Verena Mittellechner
Verena Mittellechner
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