Labour Market and Skills

The biennial report “The Missing Entrepreneurs” examines policies and programmes in the field of inclusive entrepreneurship (entrepreneurship of youth, women, seniors, unemployed, migrants and people with disabilities) in Europe. Furthermore, strategies and measures to support entrepreneurship in these underrepresented groups are identified. The Austrian Institute for SME Research is part of the network of national experts and responsible for the country report Austria.

Client: OECD
Contact: Eva Heckl

The OECD research project analyses the types, methods, reasons/purposes/motivation, participants, decision and planning processes, benefits/effects as well as barriers in terms of training in enterprises. Data collection took place in the form of semi-structured interviews with 100 enterprises in five countries: Austria, Estonia, France, Ireland and Italy. The Austrian Institute for SME Research implemented interviews with 20 enterprises in Austria.

Publication

German Press Release

Client: OECD
Contact: Karin Petzlberger

The aim is to determine how the introduction of AI technologies affects different actors (management, employees, etc.) and whether this differs between countries depending on policy measures or institutional frameworks. The aim is to identify good practices as well as barriers to the introduction of innovative, work-enhancing and trustworthy AI in the workplace.

For this purpose, we are still looking for companies from the financial or manufacturing sector that are already using AI technologies and are available for interviews. If you are interested to support the project, please contact k.petzlberger@kmuforschung.ac.at.

Project duration: 06/2021 - 03/2022

Client: OECD (Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs)

Contact: Karin Petzlberger 

Further information on the project:https://www.oecd.org/future-of-work/reports-and-data/impactsofartificialintelligenceontheworkplace.htm

The project aims to shed light on the Austrian apprenticeship market. The core of the study is a qualitative assessment of the situation on the Austrian apprenticeship market in general and with regard to selected industry groups and regions in particular. In addition, the consequences of the Corona crisis for the apprenticeship market will be analyzed. Based on this, conclusions are to be drawn and fields of action identified to support training companies and apprenticeship seekers and to improve the matching process.

Project duration: 10/2020 - 08/2021
Client: AMS Austria
Contact: Eva Heckl

The evaluation analyses the instrument "BMVIT endowed professorship" and develops recommendations for the further development of the instrument. The focus is on the organisational and structural framework conditions for endowed professorships from the perspective of the sponsor and the universities. The evaluation focuses on questions regarding the appropriate design of the instrument with regard to the intended funding objectives. In addition, the integration of the instrument into the national funding environment and the positioning of endowed professorships in the Austrian university and higher education landscape is examined.

German Report

Within the framework of the "funding focus on talents" ("Förderschwerpunkt Talente), (potential) researchers are funded in the application-oriented, scientific and technical RTI area. The funding instruments are aimed at children and young people (internships for pupils, regional talents) as well as researchers (career grants, job exchange) and address equal opportunities in research (FEMtech student internships, FEMtech career (check), FEMtech research projects). The Research Partnerships ("Forschungspartnerschaften") program supports dissertation projects in companies and non-university research institutions. The evaluation focuses on the analysis of the funding concepts, the implementation and the effects of the programmes.

Project duration: 05/2020 - 02/2021
Client: Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology
Contact: Eva Heckl

Downloads (only executive summary available in English):

• Report Talente - Evaluierung des Förderschwerpunkts
• Report Forschungspartnerschaften – industrienahe Dissertationen - Programmevaluierung 

The Missing Entrepreneurs 2019 is the fifth edition of a series of publications that explore how to support job creation, economic growth and social inclusion at national, regional and local level by overcoming obstacles to business creation and self-employment by people from disadvantaged or under-represented groups of entrepreneurship. There is considerable potential to fight unemployment and increase labour force participation by facilitating the start-up of enterprises in population groups such as women, young people, the unemployed and migrants. However, the specific problems they face must be identified and addressed through effective and efficient policy measures. As in previous years, the Austrian Institute for SME Research was responsible for the country report Austria.

The study aims at presenting a structured overview of the acteurs offering vocational guidance in Austria. Based on a comprehensive desk research a market analysis was conducted.

Client: Public Employment Service Austria (AMS)
Duration: May 2019 – October 2019
Project manager: Eva Heckl

The accompanying impact analysis and evaluation of the Swiss "CTI Entrepreneurship" Training Programms assesses its conception, implementation and short to medium-term effects. The analysis, carried out by the Austrian Institute for SME Research in cooperation with B, S, S Volkswirtschaftliche Beratung AG in Basel, is based on theories of social psychology and their empirical implementation against the background of heterogeneous support infrastructures in the Swiss regions.

The Austrian Institute for SME Research has provided assistance to the government of Upper Austria in redesigning their labour market strategy with a focus on supply of skilled labour. This includes an analysis of the regional labour market (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats); the development of possible future scenarios, a system of strategic objectives and an impact model of the strategy; the definition of corresponding indicators; and the development and testing of a monitoring system.

The study analyses the effects of digitalisation and industry 4.0 on the economy on Lower Austria. The focus is on the changes with regard to (levels of) qualifications and professions that will be of special relevance in a digital economy. It will also look at which professions will most likely be affected by the rationalisation potential caused by digital technologies. Following this, the study will also develop recommendations on how to adapt the current training opportunities of the Public Employment Service in Lower Austria.

The national framework conditions are of high importance to maintain and strengthen the competitiveness of enterprises in an increasingly globalised and digitised economy. Against this background the study analyses, if the current framework conditions in Austria promote or hinder competitiveness of Austrian enterprises - especially SMEs.

Long-term unemployed persons represent a main target group of labour market policy as they entail various hampering factors with view to a reintegration at the labour market. On the one hand financial/social support has to be provided, on the other hand tailored measures have to be designed. In the framework of this study active and mainly passive support measures for long-term unemployed in selected European countries are analysed. These measures are compared with the Austrian support instruments.

The situation at the labour market for specific groups (low skilled persons, migrants, 50+, etc.) becomes more problematic. One of the political solutions is early intervention. To improve such measures this study analyses early intervention measures in Germany and draws lessons learnt for Austria. Methods applied are literature and document analysis, expert interviews and case studies.

This project analyses and assesses the labour market situation and development (labour demand and supply) at the level of occupations and qualifications in the regions of Upper Austria. This is done based on an in-depth analysis of regionalised labour market and educational data, and regional focus groups. The results serve as a basis for policies and initiatives to improve matching on regional labour markets.

In this study PIAAC-data concerning ICT-competences are analysed. Research activities and labour market concepts in Austria and selected countries (Germany, Canada, Netherlands, Sweden and UK) are described. Furthermore, international labour market programmes and initiatives (good practices) to ameliorate these competences in Germany and the Netherlands are identified.

The objectives of this study were to analyse the employment situation of young people in Switzerland and the framework conditions in the labour market, the identification of good practices of support for young people in the labour market in Switzerland, and conclusions and lessons learned for designing support measures for young people in the Austrian labour market.

The study investigates the use of competence measurement and assessment among European enterprises. The focus was on the purposes of skills assessment, the methods used and the quality of results obtained. In this respect, there were clear differences between company types and professional functions in companies. The research was primarily based on surveys and case studies in 10 European countries.