Location rating

AK wants more employee participation

Who gets what share of the "success cake"?(Bild: Foto: Ingo Bartussek)

The Chamber of Labor presented its location rating for Vorarlberg and identified a number of problem areas: Childcare, tax burden and participation in company success.

For the fourth time, the Chamber of Labor (AK) has compiled a location rating for Vorarlberg, this time focusing in particular on the issue of skills shortages. In doing so, the AK has identified a number of areas for action that need to be tightened up.

For example, Vorarlberg's employees work particularly hard, but only participate to a small extent in the company's success. The AK even describes this circumstance as a "central obstacle to finding well-trained workers and retaining them in Vorarlberg". In a federal state comparison, hourly productivity in Vorarlberg is number one, but employees only receive 44 cents per euro earned - less than in any other federal state.

Eva King and Bernhard Heinzle are calling for employees to receive more of the company's success.(Bild: AK / Dietmar Mathis)

Another issue is the lack of childcare. Not even half of the childcare facilities make full-time employment possible for the parent concerned. It is therefore not surprising that 42 percent of all women working part-time state that they are unable to take on a full-time job due to childcare responsibilities. For the AK, it is clear that only a better developed childcare infrastructure will enable more intensive participation in working life.

The AK also recommends a further training offensive. Together with Vienna, Vorarlberg has the highest number of unemployed people who have only completed compulsory schooling. Higher educational qualifications could open up greater employment opportunities.

Distribute the tax burden differently
Last but not least, the AK advocates tax restructuring: it calls for a progressive wealth and inheritance tax to relieve the burden on households and incomes. A "rethink of current tax and economic policy in this respect would distribute the cake more fairly," says the AK.