Description (en)
The economy and the labour market 2014-15
After the severe slump in economic development in 2009, the Austrian economy recovered quickly in 2010 and
2011 (2010 +2.1%, +2.7% in 2011). In the years thereafter, however, the economic development weakened and
could not recover until today. Accordingly, real GDP growth slowed down and reached 0.4% in 2014. In 2015,
real GDP growth is not expected to rise beyond 0.8%. This will be the fourth year in a row with a weak
economic performance. The main culprits were limited export demand for Austrian manufacturing goods - both
from the Euro-zone as well as developing countries - in combination with slack domestic demand.
It is a new phenomenon for Austria that economic growth falls behind the average of the Euro-zone (2014:
EU19: +0.9%) and so clearly behind Germany (+1.6% in 2014). In addition to weak export demand domestic
demand was lacking as real income growth of private households was minimal (+0.3% in real terms) and
enterprises were reluctant to invest in view of significant uncertainties about the development of export
markets. The geo-political strains between the Ukraine and Russia contributed to the restraint of all economic
actors in Austria. The rapid decline of oil prices which set in towards the end of the year 2014 could not help
boost confidence and economic growth.