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Jobs in Austria: City of Vienna seeks 21,000 new employees

As many public servants retire, the Austrian capital is now seeking people to fill the gap - but companies throughout the country are also holding events and open days. Here's what you need to know.

Published: 17 March 2023 16:34 CET

Jobs in Austria: City of Vienna seeks 21,000 new employees

(Photo: benchaccounting, Unsplash)

Austria’s capital Vienna is looking to fill 21,000 positions by 2030, as many workers from older generations retire, and the government will start a major advertising campaign to attract new talent, mayor Michael Ludwig and personnel city councillor Jürgen Czernohorszky (both SPÖ) said on Friday.

According to Ludwig, there are “various” possible fields of work. For example, employees are sought in the government’s social, technical and digital areas.

Currently, the City of Vienna employs around 67,000 people – not all of them need to be Austrian citizens. Due to the high demand, the capital will organise its own “job fair” for the first time.

READ ALSO: REVEALED: What are the best paying jobs in Austria?

On May 23rd, anyone interested in working for the City of Vienna is invited to go to the Vienna City Hall to learn about job prospects, the authorities said in a press release.

Other job fairs

From March 20 to 24th, the Austrian Economic Chambers is also promoting a job and career fair, “Skills Week Austria”, its yearly event taking place throughout the country.

There will be a wide range of vocational training activities, events, workshops or talent checks in all provinces, meetings and challenges for young people with “Skills Heroes” – the best young professionals in Austria, Europe and worldwide.

READ ALSO: What you need to know about finding work in Austrian towns and villages

Additionally, educational institutions provide information on career and further training options, schools are dedicated to the topic of career choice and future opportunities, and companies present themselves on open days.

There are more than 70 events throughout Austria and you can find an overview of all activities and the stations of the roadshow HERE.

READ ALSO: Six official websites to know if you’re planning to work in Austria

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What are Austria's 'personal holiday' rules?

Austria has a very particular “personal holiday” regulation which allows workers to, once a year, unilaterally determine when they want to take a day off. The day will be taken from the 30 (or 36, depending on the case) holiday days they are entitled to per year.

The difference to typical vacation days is that the employee can decide when to take it – though they must inform the employer in writing three months in advance.

Also, unlike a regular holiday application, the employer can’t refuse a personal holiday. They can ask the employee not to take it, but it will ultimately be the employee’s decision. This goes even for work that is considered essential for operational reasons.

If the worker agrees to work on the day of the personal holiday after the employer requests, they will be entitled to holiday pay. However, the employee is no longer allowed another personal holiday in the current vacation year but won’t lose any vacation days either.

READ ALSO: How do Austria’s public holidays stack up against the rest of Europe?

Why does the regulation exist?

The personal holiday was created after a judicial decision in Austria when a Viennese man sued for discrimination because certain groups (members of the Protestant and Old Catholic Church) were allowed to take Good Friday off as a religious holiday.

In 2019, the Viennese demanded a holiday salary for his work on Good Friday. The case went all the way to the European Court of Justice, which ruled that having holidays only for a specific part of the population went against the European Union’s equal treatment directive.

Since then, workers in Austria have been allowed to take “personal holidays,” and Good Friday has stopped being a legal holiday in the country.

The issue has been debated ever since. In 2020, the Constitutional Court (VfGH) in Austria rejected the application of the Protestant and Old Catholic Churches, among others, to repeal the current regulation on Good Friday.

Several representatives of Churches have asked for Good Friday to be a holiday for all Austrians. “It’s about lifting unequal treatment, so we demand a holiday for everyone,” protestant superintendent Matthias Geist told broadcaster ORF. But there are no signs of changes in the near future.

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