VIENNA: Austria’s Public Employment Service, known as AMS, is defending its training programmes after a jobseeker from Lower Austria claimed that some course participants spent time playing golf, table tennis and going for walks.
The young man told the Kronen Zeitung that health problems had forced him to leave his former profession. He was waiting to begin a retraining programme but was instructed to attend another AMS course in the meantime.
According to his account, participants were asked to prepare job applications but were not allowed to send them because they were expected to start retraining soon. He said the course later included activities such as golf, table tennis and walks.
The man questioned whether the programme was truly helping people return to work. He suggested that such courses might instead make Austria’s unemployment figures appear lower.
People who attend approved training programmes are recorded separately from those officially registered as unemployed. Critics argue that this can create a misleading picture because participants may still have no job, even though they are no longer included in the main unemployment figure.
AMS spokeswoman Martina Fischlmayr rejected the accusation that courses were assigned to influence statistics. She said a course was not chosen because it had vacant places or because officials wanted to change labour-market figures. The main consideration, she said, was whether the programme could improve a person’s chances of finding employment.
The AMS acknowledged that its assessment may differ from that of the jobseeker. Fischlmayr advised participants to raise their concerns early and explain them clearly during meetings with their advisers.
Refusing an assigned course without a valid reason, or deliberately preventing its success, can lead to sanctions. In some cases, unemployment benefits may be suspended temporarily.
The AMS said every course must be linked clearly to its stated purpose. Officials can conduct unannounced inspections and end programmes if they fail to meet the required standards.
The agency also maintains that application training can benefit people over 50, even those with long professional experience. Recruitment methods and application procedures, it says, have changed sharply in recent years.
