Austria has increased the budget for the exchange rate by two billion euros

The Austrian government will increase the budget for the so-called short-time work from five to seven billion euros this year. According to information from Tuesday's joint press conference of the Ministries of Labor, Finance and Economy, 458,993 people are currently working on the short-time work regime, which is 18,600 more than a week ago. In addition, a total of 534,256 unemployed or retraining people are registered with the Arbeitsmarktservice (AMS). That is 744 more than a week ago and 113,000 more than in the same period last year. Austrian companies have so far applied for a contribution to the exchange rate of 10.4 billion euros and AMS has paid 5.8 billion euros. "In times of crisis, our clear goal is to secure jobs through the short-time work regime, and we are succeeding," the APA agency quoted Labor Minister Martin Kocher as saying. "It will be crucial for the subsequent recovery that we make good use of this time for further education and qualifications," the minister added. The corona crisis has so far hit tourism, gastronomy, shops, transport companies and professions requiring close physical contact the hardest. "In Austria, we are strengthening ourselves against the economic consequences of the pandemic with the largest support package in the EU, so that we can best guide companies through the crisis and preserve as many jobs as possible," said Finance Minister Gernot Blümel. He pointed to a study by the IHS Institute, according to which no other member state of the European Union has greater measures to save health and jobs than Austria. According to the Ministry of Finance, Austria has so far paid out or pledged around € 31 billion in aid through various types of aid. Another type of aid is an investment premium, for which the Ministry of Economy registers approximately 85,000 applications. According to Minister Margaret Schramböck, 2.8 billion euros are available to trigger follow-up investments of 30 billion euros. About half of all applications concern the areas of digitization and sustainability. Companies can submit applications until February 28.