Expert links higher pension age to rising female unemployment
Sunday 6th September 2026 on 17:30 in
Austria
Higher unemployment among women over 60 is directly linked to Austria’s gradual increase in the female pension age, labour-market expert Ingrid Mairhuber told ORF Vorarlberg.
Austria has been raising the pension age for women in stages since 2024 to help finance the pension system. It currently stands at 61 years and six months and is due to reach 65 in seven years.
Mairhuber, from the Vienna-based Research and Consulting Centre for the Working World, said female unemployment over 60 had risen sharply just months after the first increase began in January 2024. Current figures indicate that the trend is continuing and is in some cases more pronounced than at the start, she said.
Companies were not prepared
Mairhuber said companies had never fully supported the higher pension age for women, seeing little benefit in it and failing to prepare for the change.
Very few people over 60 work in Austrian companies, according to studies cited by Mairhuber. Many companies do not employ anyone over 60, she said, adding that employers also had to take responsibility.
Women lose bonus payments
The pension-age increase also means women lose money, Mairhuber said. Previously, women received bonus payments if they continued working while receiving a pension. Those payments no longer apply because their work no longer falls within the pension period.
“In effect, I see this as pension cuts,” Mairhuber said. She added that while the change might be acceptable for some people, it represented a reduction in benefits for many others.
Mairhuber also opposed raising the pension age for men, saying they too could end up unemployed and receive less money.
Older women particularly affected in Vorarlberg
Unemployment in Vorarlberg rose more sharply in July than in any other Austrian province, according to figures cited by ORF Vorarlberg. A total of 10,555 people were registered as seeking work, 8.5 percent more than a year earlier.
People over 50 were particularly affected, with unemployment rising by 16.2 percent. Among women in that age group, it increased by 19.4 percent. The employment service attributed the rise mainly to economic problems in retail and traditional office-based professions. Unemployment among men over 50 rose by 13.6 percent.