AK Working Climate Index: Around 120,000 working poor despite full-time work

According to the AK Working Climate Index, 54 percent of employees have a "good living" with their income, for 40 percent it is "just enough," and for six percent it is "not enough." AK-OÖ head Andreas Stangl sees a need for political action.

Since 1997, the Upper Austrian Chamber of Labor, together with the research institutes IFES and FORESIGHT, has been conducting the Working Climate Index as an indicator of job satisfaction and workload. Approximately 4,000 people are surveyed annually on a representative basis through face-to-face and online interviews.

There are "massive differences" in income satisfaction based on education, gender, and migration background, explained FORESIGHT CEO Christoph Hofinger on Thursday at the presentation of the Working Climate Index in Vienna. Unskilled workers and those employed in tourism are significantly more dissatisfied. Furthermore, women are more frequently affected by financial hardship than men, the social researcher said. Those who can barely make ends meet also suffer more frequently from stress and rate their own health lower, according to IFES CEO Reinhard Raml.

"If paid work doesn't provide a secure livelihood, daily life becomes a challenge," said AK-OÖ President Stangl, commenting on the results of the current Working Climate Index. To reduce the number of working poor, the AK-OÖ chairman calls for more measures to combat inflation in energy, rent, and food, as well as a legal right to training. Furthermore, apprenticeships must be available free of charge, and employees must be offered free, quality-assured skills assessment.

Overall, significantly more people in Austria cannot afford the expenses of daily living. According to the Europe-wide Survey of Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), which is conducted annually in Austria by Statistics Austria, 3.7 percent of the Austrian population – approximately 336,000 people – were significantly materially and socially disadvantaged in 2024. A person is considered "significantly materially and socially disadvantaged" if they self-report that they cannot afford at least seven of 13 EU-defined characteristics and activities of daily living. These range from unexpected expenses of €1,390 to one annual vacation to adequately warm housing, according to Statistics Austria.