Social counselling drives Styria’s unemployment rise as health workers remain sought

Unemployment in the combined health and social professions category in Styria, an Austrian state, rose 14%, but the increase was concentrated in social counselling rather than healthcare, ORF reported.

Unemployment among people in healthcare professions rose by 5.7%, or 38 people, according to Karl Heinz Snobe, head of the Public Employment Service in Styria. In social counselling, the increase was about 17%, with 475 more people unemployed than a year earlier.

Snobe said cutbacks by the federal government, the state, municipalities and the Public Employment Service had affected services including migration and homelessness counselling, school assistance and employment advice.

Workers with training in nursing and healthcare are still in demand, he said. The Public Employment Service and the state continue to support training in nursing assistance and specialist nursing assistance.

Overall, unemployment in Styria was nearly 6% higher than in October last year, with more than 38,100 people out of work. Snobe attributed the larger rise in unemployment among women to weakness in the retail sector.