Excerpted from the Austria Career Guide
Austria’s industrial sector has staged an impressive turnaround as it emerges from the global recession.Revenues for companies comprising the industrial and construction sectors rose to 18.8 billion EUR, up 11.1 percent from last year. There are 61,646 enterprises within the sector, an annual increase of 2.1 percent. This is a prime arena for engineering employment.
The approximately 1,900 companies in the mechanical and plant engineering and the metal goods industries employ almost 153,000 people. Private companies in these high tech manufacturing-focused sectors account for close to a quarter of all industrial employees in Austria. They also produce 22 percent of all of Austria’s physical goods (around 30 billion EUR last year), and account for 22 percent of all Austrian exports. In addition, they spend 483 million EUR annually on research and development (R&D).
Areas of Job Promise
Increased production translates into increased demand for highly skilled technical workers. The industrial production and construction sectors employ nearly 857,000 workers, up 2.7 percent from a year earlier. Many of these positions are in engineering-related occupations.
In fact, Austria faces a critical shortage of skilled engineers to fill the rising demand. According to a recent survey of manufacturing employers conducted by the industry division at the Austrian Chamber of Commerce (WKÖ), there is a critical shortage across all industrial sectors of graduates, students, apprentices and trainees in the technical fields. Mechanical engineers are in particularly high demand in the Vienna area, Styria and Upper Austria. The situation is serious enough to affect future corporate plans for expansion and competition.
Organizations and Trade Associations
Österreichischer Ingenieurs und Architekten Verein (OIAV)
Society of Austrian Engineers and Architects
http://www.oiav.at (German)
ÖIAV, the Society of Austrian Engineers and Architects (Österreichischer Ingenieurs und Architekten Verein), was founded in 1848. It is Austria’s oldest union of engineers. The ÖIAV is a non-profit organization without compulsory membership (unlike the professional chambers for engineers and architects). It is home not only to the classical engineering branches such as architecture, civil engineering and mechanical engineering, but also to specialized disciplines such as energy engineering, automotive engineering, process engineering and environmental protection, as well as the Austrian Member Society of the ISSMGE (International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering). It offers support to its members, promotes young engineers and works to create a positive public image of engineering.
Society of Austrian Engineers and Architects
Eschenbachgasse 9
A-1010 Vienna
Tel: +43 1 587 35 36
Fax: +43 1 370 58 06 333
Email: office@oiav.at
Labor Unions
Gewerkschaft der Privatangestellten / Druck-Journalismus-Papier (GPA-djp)
Union of Salaried Employees / Print – Journalism - Paper
http://www.gpa-djp.at/ (German)
Engineers are represented by the GPA-djp, a merger of the Union of Salaried Employees (Gewerkschaft der Privatangestellten) and the Union for Printers (Gewerkschaft für Druck, Journalismus und Papier). It is responsible for handling trade union issues and concerns about the workplace. GPA-djp is the trade union with the most members within the ÖGB (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund/Austrian Trade Union Confederation). GPA-djp represents many different economic sectors such as commerce, financial and economic services, social insurance and services, the manufacturing industries, research, education, culture, charitable societies and interest groups, as well as the gambling, tourism and leisure industries.
GPA-djp-Service-Center
Alfred-Dallinger-Platz 1
A-1034 Vienna
Tel: +43 5 03 01 301
Fax: +43 5 03 01 300
Email: service@gpa-djp.at
This is just a short sample of what you’ll find in over 100 pages of information in the Austria Guide.
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