SPÖ candidate Auinger wins run-off election in Salzburg

Salzburg’s next mayor will be Bernhard Auinger, who won 63.09 percent of the vote in Sunday’s mayoral run-off election. This put the SPO candidate well ahead of his communist opponent, Kay-Michael Dankl, who achieved 36.91 percent.

Why your March salary could be late in Austria

Workers in Austria who receive a monthly salary may have their March pay packet arrive late due to European banking regulations.

Stark differences between men and women when it comes to part-time work

According to Statistik Austria, in 2023, 4,483,000 people aged 15 and over were in employment on average, which was 40,400 or 0.9 percent more than in 2022, despite the weak economic situation. 

However, most of this employment growth is due to increased part-time workers. The number of full-time employed persons rose by 0.3 percent (9,700) compared to the previous year, while the number of part-time employed increased by 2.3 percent (30,800).

In 2023, just over one out of eight men (13.4 percent) and one out of two working women (50.6%) said they worked part-time. Women cited caring responsibilities as the most common reason for their part-time employment (39.3 percent). While 61.7 percent of women (aged 25 to 49) without children work full-time, only 10.4 percent of women with a child under three do so. Although the proportion of women working full-time increases with the child’s age, it always remains below the level of women without children. This effect cannot be observed for men with children.

READ ALSO: Four reasons Austria is great for women and four reasons why it isn’t

SPÖ leader Babler speaks out against reducing the age of criminal responsibility

SPÖ leader Andreas Babler said on Sunday he was against lowering the age of criminal responsibility despite the increasing number of knife attacks committed by young people.

Speaking on the ‘Press Hour’ on broadcaster ORF, he said that “ the rule of law is not defensive enough”.

Instead, he called for more police officers, a youth court and small-scale, supervised institutions with compulsory stays for young criminals.

Headscarves ‘unfortunately not welcome’ for Billa Vienna job

Women wearing headscarves are not welcome to apply for a job at the Vienna-Döbling branch of the Billa supermarket chain, according to an internal recruiter email, Der Standard reported.

The recruiter, It-Works, was looking to fill a position at Billa’s delicatessen counter.

According to the internal email, “experience in delicatessen is not absolutely necessary, but a willingness and ability to learn definitely is”.

However, the email also stated in bold that the position required “a good knowledge of German” and that “unfortunately, staff wearing headscarves are not welcome in this district”. 

A spokesperson for Germany’s Rewe, which owns Billa, told der Standard that, of course, the company hired women with headscarves and that the recruiter’s email was not in line with Rewe’s corporate policy.

It-Works, meanwhile, said it deeply regretted the incident and made it clear that the request did not come from Billa but arose due to an “internal misunderstanding on our part”.

Austria and Germany score two of the fastest international goals

Austria’s Christoph Baumgartner scored one of the fastest-ever international goals within seven seconds on Saturday, quickly followed by a similar lightning strike by Germany’s Florian Wirtz.

Baumgartner, 24, entered the record books during a friendly match in Bratislava.

The Leipzig attacker drove through the home defence from kick-off before unleashing a 25-metre shot past Martin Dubravka in goal.

“We’ve done this variation before, sprinting from kick-off at full risk. The sequence of steps somehow worked out so that I made the run,” Baumgartner told Austrian public broadcaster ORF after his team’s 2-0 win in the game.

“Of course it’s really cool, I’m very happy. The fact that I hit it like that… it’s, of course, sensational.”

Baumgartner’s strike took seven seconds, the same amount of time it took Lukas Podolski to score for Germany against Ecuador in May 2013.

The Austrian FA described Baumgartner’s effort as the fastest goal in international football history.

“Of course, we got off to a really good start; that goal by itself was probably worth the price of admission,” said Austria coach Ralf Rangnick.

Meanwhile, later on Saturday, Wirtz was as fast against France in a friendly in Lyon.

The Leverkusen player beat ‘keeper Brice Samba with a superb shot under the crossbar.

Turkey’s Hakan Sukur scored the fastest goal in the World Cup against South Korea in 2002 after 11 seconds.

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