Martin Bartenstein, the Austrian Secretary for Economy, presented, on October 11, 2007, an ordinance (Fachkräfteverordnung 2008) which will lead Austria to widely open - from January 1, 2008 - its labour market to skilled workers from Eastern Europe in 50 trades . The Secretary is also negotiating complete opening for skilled workers and postgraduates as early as 2009. (Ref. 070864)
According to the Austrian employment agency (Arbeitsmarktservice – AMS) Austria lacks almost 7.000 skilled workers in many sectors. For Martin Bartenstein, it was thus urgent to open the labour market more widely. As for several other European states, Austria indeed decided to shut its labour market down for citizens from new eastern EU member states until 2011. Since 2006 however, the economic situation is in good shape, the unemployment rate keeps decreasing (-4.2%, Eurostat) and companies ar
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