VIENNA, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Austria's unemployment rate climbed to 8.6 percent in January, 0.5 percentage points up from the same month last year, as job cuts in the industrial and trade sectors weighed on the labor market, the country's Public Employment Service (AMS) said on Monday.
By the end of January, the AMS had registered 445,513 people as unemployed or in training programs, a 5.8 percent annual increase. However, the number of available job openings fell by 12.3 percent year-on-year to 76,478.
The manufacturing sector saw the sharpest rise in unemployment, with a 14.6 percent increase compared to January last year.
Among nine federal states, the capital area of Vienna saw the highest unemployment rate of 12.7 percent. The state of Upper Austria recorded the sharpest annual increase in unemployment, up 11.2 percent.
According to official data, Austria's unemployment rate has been climbing since April 2023 as continued economic contraction strains the labor market.
AMS board member Petra Draxl told the Austrian news agency APA that no immediate recovery is expected in the labor market in the coming months.
Austria's gross domestic product has contracted for seven quarters in a row since the second quarter of 2023. ■