Austria manipulates unemployment figures

At just four percent at the end of June, the number of unemployed in Austria is the lowest in the EU, where the average rate is 9.4 percent. But these figures hide the truth, writes the liberal conservative daily Die Presse: "Nowhere in Europe is unemployment lower than in Austria. That is very good news, but only if you don't take too close a look. Because Austria's top spot in this league has a lot to do with clever manipulation of the figures. Even this art has to be learned, and practically no government is as good at it as ours. The army of the unemployed has been decimated thanks to the large numbers of long-term students and very young pensioners, who appear in none of the statistics on the jobless. Sixty percent of those between 55 and 64 are retired here. ... The unemployment statistics have also been given a lift by the generous state employers. Here in Austria 42,000 railway workers are needed to carry out the work done by just 27,000 in Switzerland."

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