Carinthia’s labor market is at a turning point. Over the past decade, the Austrian province saw unemployment fall and employment rise. But demographic change is now threatening to undo much of that progress.
As the population grows older and fewer young people enter the workforce, Carinthia could face a shortage of up to 36,000 skilled workers by 2050, according to ORF. The figure is roughly equal to the combined populations of Wolfsberg and St. Veit people who could effectively disappear from the region’s labor pool.
Peter Wedenig, director of AMS Carinthia, said the province was facing a shortage in both the number and the skills of available workers.
“We have a bottleneck,” Wedenig said. “The artery of the labor market needs to be opened a little wider. We are doing everything we can to make better use of the available potential.”
There are, however, reasons for cautious optimism. Between 2016 and 2025, annual unemployment in Carinthia fell by about 7,500 people, a decline of 30 percent. Employment increased by around 13,000 jobs, or 6.5 percent, while the number of vacancies more than doubled.
To meet future demand, AMS, the Industrial Association and Diakonie de La Tour are increasingly focusing on people with refugee and migrant backgrounds. Over the past decade, Diakonie de La Tour has supported nearly 800 people through training and employment programmes, with around 60 percent finding jobs.
Its Migrants Care programme, which prepares participants for careers in nursing, has recorded an especially strong success rate of 87 percent, according to rector Astrid Körner.
Officials say no single measure will be enough. Carinthia will need to attract migrant workers, encourage people to remain in employment longer and help existing workers gain new skills. Only a broad response, they warn, can prevent falling birth rates and an ageing population from weakening the province’s economic future.
