Labour force forecasts

According to the main variant of the population forecast the number of economically active persons in Austria will continue to increase. The Austrian labour force reaches a maximum of 4.2 million in 2018 (2009: 4.084 million). Due to demographic changes the labour force drops by approx. 100,000 to less than 4.1 million by 2030. Afterwards, the labour force will rise slightly to 4.235 million by 2050. This increase after 2030 is based on the underlying gender specific assumptions whereas only female labour force participation will increase and the number of male economically active persons will remain nearly constant.

The moderate growth in labour supply unveils significant change within the age structure of the labour force. As baby boomers reach advanced working age and, in particular, participation beyond the age of 50 is assumed to rise significantly in the future, older workers’ participation by will go up considerably. The labour force aged 50 and above should exceed the one-million limit as early as 2015 (2009: 811 000) and go beyond 1.1 million even before 2020.

Differentiating by federal states (NUTS 2), Carinthia will post the strongest workforce decline with a fall of labour supply of 9% by 2030. Over the next two decades a shrinking workforce population is also projected for Styria (-5%), Burgenland, Salzburg and Upper Austria (-3%). While the workforce populations of Tyrol will stagnate, Lower Austria and Vorarlberg will see rising numbers of economically active persons (+3%). Vienna is expected to grow at an exceptionally high rate of approximately 8%.

  • Table(s)
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Results (overview): Labour Force projectonHTMLPDFXLSX
Results (overview): age structure of Labour ForceHTMLPDFXLSX


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