At the end of December 2025, 434,572 people in Austria were looking for a job or undergoing AMS training. Martin Kocher, Governor of the Austrian National Bank, was a guest on ORF’s ZIB2 on Friday evening to discuss this topic. “Of course there is nothing pleasant about the job market being the way it is now,” Kocher admitted at the beginning of the interview. At the end of a recession, the labor market only gains momentum late. At the beginning of an upswing, companies would not hire many workers. “But we expect a trend reversal in 2026,” said Kocher. There will be fewer unemployed people over the course of the spring than last year. However, one should not be too optimistic. In other countries – such as Germany – the economy is currently weaker than here.
