In contrast to the healthcare system, which is financed by social insurance, long-term care (LTC) is financed by general taxation in Austria. The LTC system in Austria is characterised by a strong reliance on family and other informal care. Persons in need of LTC are supported by a LTC allowance and by the provision of LTC services. While the federal state is responsible for the former, the nine provinces (Bundesländer) are responsible for the provision of the latter. Most services are provided by non-profit organisations and by public bodies (e.g., communities). The provinces are obliged by law to provide care services, but they are largely free to organise them as they see fit, which results in a wide variety of services and conditions across the provinces. Additional support by the federal state is provided for the employment of live-in carers and to informal carers.

Health expectancy (HE), commonly derived from cross-sectional prevalence data using the Sullivan method, serves as the most frequently used summary measure of population health. Like lifespan distribution statistics, which are often discussed alongside life expectancy (LE) in demographic studies, analogous statistics on healthy lifespans can provide valuable information on population health. We examine whether healthy lifespan distribution statistics beyond HE can be estimated based on cross-sectional prevalence data and the life table, the data inputs of the Sullivan method. To do so, we treat the Sullivan method as an extension of the stationary population model to health and distinguish between health conditions with and without recovery from the state of decreased health. Our empirical demonstration is based on the prevalence of chronic diseases in selected European countries in 2017 from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), as well as on life tables from Eurostat. We find that the Sullivan method, when considered as an extension of the stationary population model to health, allows for the estimation of a healthy survival distribution and its statistics, beyond HE, for health characteristics with no recovery from the state of decreased health. We show that for such health conditions, the method requires that the number of persons in full health in a stationary population does not increase with age. We argue that for such health dimensions, HE conditional on being in good health at the life table radix age is of relevance for health policy interventions. In our empirical application, we show that the conditional and unconditional measures of HE can give substantially different pictures of population health. Furthermore, we show that across European countries, in contrast to the negative relationship between LE and lifespan inequality, higher HE is associated with greater inequality in healthy years lived when conditional on being healthy at age 50. Overall, the Sullivan method, when considered as an extension of the stationary population model, proves to be a valuable tool for deriving summary statistics of population health beyond HE, which are highly relevant to public policy.

There is still a lack of knowledge on how to effectively help the long-term unemployed into employment. We evaluate a wide range of active labour market policies for this target group, using a dynamic matching approach. Measures vary considerably in the extent to which they improve labour market prospects. Human capital-intensive training programs that substantially enhance vocational skills and employment programs are most effective, short activating job search training the least. Our results suggest that not only wage subsidies in the private sector, but also direct job creation in the public and non-profit sectors can work, if properly designed.

In a randomised controlled trial in Austria, lowering caseloads for caseworkers in a Public Employment Office led to more meetings with unemployed clients, more job offers, more programme assignments, and more sanctions for noncompliance with job search requirements. It shortened unemployment spells through faster job entry, but also through more exits from the labour force in the 2 years following treatment. The duration of unemployment was reduced for a number of subgroups of the unemployed, but not all benefitted from increased employment. For women and foreigners, lower caseloads led to more time out of the labour force. The quality of jobs after unemployment, measured by wages, did not change. A cost–benefit analysis suggests that lower caseloads not only shorten unemployment but also save public costs.

Anhand der vergangenen Entwicklung wird gezeigt, dass sich im Lauf der Zeit die Schwerpunkte und Fragestellungen der Pensionspolitik verändert haben. Im Hinblick auf die anhaltende Diskussion zur Sicherung der Finanzierung der Alterssicherung wird eine Adaptierung der Finanzierungsstruktur der Alterssicherung im Sinne des Leistungsfähigkeitsprinzips an die Gegebenheiten des Produktions- und Wirtschaftssystems des 21. Jahrhunderts und der Vermögensökonomie zur Diskussion gestellt.

Dieser Beitrag untersucht, ob das österreichische System der Lohnfindung, trotz enormer Veränderungen der ökonomischen Rahmenbedingungen in den letzten Jahrzehnten, noch einer Lohnkoordination durch den Leitabschluss des Metallersektors folgt. Anhand einer quantitativen ökonometrischen Untersuchung auf Basis detaillierter Tariflohndaten zeigt sich, dass der Prozess der Lohnfindung immer noch am besten durch die Lohnführerschaft des Metallersektors erklärt werden kann. Zudem hat sich die Lohnkoordinationsfunktion des Metallerabschlusses wohl durch eine zunehmende Konzentration von Kollektivvertragsabschlüssen, die im Jänner beginnen, verstärkt. Ein kürzerer zeitlicher Abstand zum Abschluss des Metallersektors könnte dafür sorgen, dass die Signalwirkung des Leitabschlusses steigt und die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung, die bei einem zeitlich größeren Abstand wichtiger wird, weniger Wirkung entfaltet.