- 2018Implementation
- 2019Implementation
- 2020Implementation
- 2021Implementation
- 2022Implementation
- 2023Implementation
- 2024Implementation
Background
The change in the demand for skilled workers, accompanied by a considerable shortage of skilled workers in some industries, is omnipresent in the public debate. At the same time, there is little reliable evidence of the concrete manifestation of this need and of regional and sectoral differences.
Objectives
The skilled labour radar aims to:
- identify and forecast of labour market needs and shortages of skilled workers;
- establish a continuous scientific observation and analysis of the demand for skilled workers.
Description
In 2018, the Austrian Economic Chamber published the Skilled labour radar, a research report prepared on its behalf presenting key indicators on unemployment, employment trends and the job market, as well as the results of a survey amongst 4 500 enterprises on the need for, and shortage of, skilled workers. The report assesses the demand for skilled labour, the reasons for it, and the effects of the shortage. It also provides forecasts of skilled labour demand and shortages.
As part of the Skilled labour radar, the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber also set up a website that provides various statistical evaluations on the topic of skilled labour demand and shortage. In particular, it provides an up-to-date overview of the number of job applicants (i.e. how many applicants there are for a vacancy) and thus the overall skilled labour situation on the basis of data from Statistics Austria. This data is available for the labour market as a whole as well as for individual occupations and can be displayed at the regional level of the federal provinces as well as the individual districts.
In 2019, the Skilled labour radar company survey was carried out for the second time. The objective of establishing a continuous scientific observation and analysis of the demand for skilled workers was thus achieved and a longitudinal view of the developments in the demand for skilled workers will be possible in the medium-term. This should also make it possible to measure the impact of measures to meet the demand for skilled workers in the medium-term.
More than 4 600 companies participated in the 2019 company survey.
In September 2020, the Skilled labour radar survey was conducted for the third time and around 4 400 companies participated. The results show that although the shortage of skilled workers in companies has decreased slightly compared to the previous year, a large proportion of Austrian companies continue to be affected in some way by the shortage of skilled workers despite the COVID-19 crisis. In almost all individual sectors and industries, more than half of the companies are affected by the shortage of skilled workers in a (rather or very) severe form. The shortage of skilled workers is experienced particularly intensively in construction, in the manufacture of wood products, in tourism, in the craft and technical sector and in medium-sized enterprises.
In May-June 2021, another survey of more than 4 200 companies was conducted as part of the Skilled labour radar. A central result of the evaluations is that, despite the COVID-19 crisis, the shortage of skilled workers was at a new all-time high. Extrapolated to the whole of Austria, an estimated skilled labour shortage of 221 000 persons can be assumed at this time, 44 000 more than at the same time in the previous year.
84% of the companies surveyed stated that they are currently affected by a shortage of skilled workers. As in the previous year, the shortage is experienced particularly strongly in the areas of construction, the manufacture of wood products, tourism and the craft and technical sector. Companies have the greatest difficulty in finding employees with apprenticeship qualifications.
In March-April 2022, another survey of around 4 000 companies was conducted as part of the Skilled labour radar. As the results show the shortage of skilled workers was still growing and again reached a new all-time high with around 272 000 persons (extrapolated to all WKO member companies), a total of around 51 000 (+23%) more than in May/June 2021.
87% of the companies surveyed stated that they are very strongly or at least somewhat strongly affected by the shortage of skilled workers. At the level of qualifications, the greatest recruitment difficulties are with apprenticeship graduates.
In the 2023 edition of the Skilled labour radar, 5 124 companies were surveyed in April and May. The results reveal that, despite a slight decline since 2022, the lack of labour and skilled workers in Austria in April 2023 is on a very high level with around 210 000 vacancies (extrapolated to all WKO member companies).
82% of the companies surveyed stated that they are currently affected by a shortage of labour and skilled workers. The shortage is particularly severe in tourism, food production, manufacturing of electrical and electronic equipment, transportation and traffic, as well as the artisanal and technical sector as a whole. Regarding the level of qualifications, the greatest and most frequent difficulties still relate to apprenticeship graduates.
In 2024, the survey conducted as part of the Skilled labour radar continued to show a high shortage of skilled labour with 193 000 vacancies (extrapolated to all WKO member companies), albeit down from its peak in 2022.
As was the case in 2023, 82% of the 2 793 companies questioned stated to be affected by the shortage. The areas impacted most are personal services, food production, health and social work, catering/hotel industry, construction, and motor trade. The recruitment of apprenticeship graduates still represents the greatest and most frequent difficulty, pertaining to the level of qualifications.
Bodies responsible
- Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKO)
Target groups
Learners
- Adult learners
Entities providing VET
- Companies
- VET providers (all kinds)
Other stakeholders
- Social partners (employer organisations and trade unions)
Other
Thematic categories
Governance of VET and lifelong learning
This thematic category looks at existing legal frameworks providing for strategic, operational – including quality assurance – and financing arrangements for VET and lifelong learning (LLL). It examines how VET and LLL-related policies are placed in broad national socioeconomic contexts and coordinate with other strategies and policies, such as economic, social and employment, growth and innovation, recovery and resilience.
This thematic category covers partnerships and collaboration networks of VET stakeholders – especially the social partners – to shape and implement VET in a country, including looking at how their roles and responsibilities for VET at national, regional and local levels are shared and distributed, ensuring an appropriate degree of autonomy for VET providers to adapt their offer.
The thematic category also includes efforts to create national, regional and sectoral skills intelligence systems (skills anticipation and graduate tracking) and using skills intelligence for making decisions about VET and LLL on quality, inclusiveness and flexibility.
This thematic sub-category refers both to formal mechanisms of stakeholder engagement in VET governance and to informal cooperation among stakeholders, which motivate shared responsibility for quality VET. Formal engagement is usually based on legally established institutional procedures that clearly define the role and responsibilities for relevant stakeholders in designing, implementing and improving VET. It also refers to establishing and increasing the degree of autonomy of VET providers for agile and flexible VET provision.
In terms of informal cooperation, the sub-category covers targeted actions by different stakeholders to promote or implement VET. This cooperation often leads to creating sustainable partnerships and making commitments for targeted actions, in line with the national context and regulation, e.g. national alliances for apprenticeships, pacts for youth or partnerships between schools and employers. It can also include initiatives and projects run by the social partners or sectoral organisations or networks of voluntary experts and executives, retired or on sabbatical, to support their peers in the fields of VET and apprenticeships, as part of the EAfA.
High-quality and timely skills intelligence is a powerful policy tool, helping improve economic competitiveness and fostering social progress and equality through the provision of targeted skills training to all citizens (Cedefop, 2020). Skills intelligence is the outcome of an expert-driven process of identifying, analysing, synthesising and presenting quantitative and/or qualitative skills and labour market information. Skills intelligence draws on data from multiple sources, such as graduate tracking systems, skills anticipation mechanisms, including at sectoral and regional levels. Actions related to establishing and developing such systems fall under this thematic sub-category.
Subsystem
Further reading
Country
Type of development
Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Skilled labour radar: Austria. In Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Timeline of VET policies in Europe (2024 update) [Online tool].
https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/tools/timeline-vet-policies-europe/search/27977