On 30 January and following several weeks of conflict, Austria’s Socialist (SPÖ) Conservative (ÖVP) ruling coalition government succeeded in presenting a program that will take it up to the autumn 2018 legislative election. It includes a new-job financial premium to be paid for three years according to specific circumstances, and economic integration support for the over 50s. Between now and the summer the government will also ask the social partners to agree on a minimum wage and on employment flexibility.
The 36-page presentation document contains a series of measures deemed necessary as the country struggles to withstand an economic slowdown and gradually rising unemployment. Social Democrat Christian Kern’s government also has to deliver results if the coalition is to stave off support for the far-right FPÖ in the 2018 election. The main measures of the program are:
- An employment bonus – ‘becshäftigungsbonus’, where from 01 July 2017 the government will bear, for a period of three...
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