Older workers bring valuable experience as unemployment rises

Unemployment among people aged 50 and over in Lower Austria rose 8.4% year on year by the end of October, even as employers say experienced staff are increasingly valuable, ORF reports.

A total of 17,090 people in the age group were registered as unemployed with the Austrian Public Employment Service (AMS). The number of unemployed women aged 50 and over rose 11.8% to 7,562. Across all age groups, unemployment in the province increased 6.4%.

The AMS says older people often find it harder to get back into work after losing a job and tend to remain unemployed for longer, despite years of professional experience.

At the Erlebnisgärtnerei, an experience garden business in Schiltern near Langenlois, 30 employees are over 50, according to managing director Reinhard Kittenberger. “The experience we get from them is something no young person can give us. And that’s great,” he told ORF.

Karmen Frena, deputy head of AMS Lower Austria, also described older employees as an important support for businesses. Their experience and stability, as well as their ability to pass knowledge on to younger colleagues, are valuable, she said. Their importance is expected to grow as the population ages, while the number of people of working age in Lower Austria is projected to decline over the long term, according to the AMS.

The issue was discussed on Thursday at an AMS business forum at WIFI in St. Pölten. Representatives from business and labour market research considered whether older age is an advantage or an obstacle at work. Julia Bock-Schappelwein, a researcher at WIFO, said digitalisation and artificial intelligence are changing the workplace, making access to further training increasingly important for older employees. Age-appropriate working conditions, flexible hours and workplace health programmes are also needed, she said.

Jobseekers face a difficult labour market: the AMS had 11,875 vacancies listed in Lower Austria at the end of October, 5.4% fewer than a year earlier. Long-term unemployment has also risen. A total of 8,016 people had been unemployed for at least a year, up 27.1% from the previous year.

At national level, the Chamber of Labour and the Austrian Trade Union Federation have proposed a bonus-malus system for businesses to encourage employment of people aged 60 to 64. Business representatives oppose the proposal.