This report was prepared by the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE) led by Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, Director. The work was conducted as part of the OECD’s Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Programme.
The report and underlying project were co-ordinated by Lars Ludolph, Economist in the OECD Local Employment, Skills and Social Innovation (LESI) Division, under the supervision of Nadim Ahmad (Deputy Director (CFE/LESI). Lukas Kleine-Rueschkamp, Head of Unit, Local Employment and Skills (CFE/LESI) provided overall guidance and comments. This report was drafted by Laurenz Baertsch (CFE/LESI) and Lars Ludolph. Karen Maguire (CFE), Thomas Liebig (ELS/EMP), Jonathan Chaloff and Anastasia Demidova (both ELS/IMD) provided valuable comments. Jack Waters (CFE) and Eloisa Cozar Navarette (CFE/LESI) prepared the report for publication.
The report benefitted from valuable inputs and contributions from Claudia Baranzelli (CFE/EDS), Alexandre Banquet (CFE/EDS), Josep Espasa Reig (CFE/EDS), Leon Oberreiter (CFE/LESI), Lars Rehbach (CFE/LESI), Anna Deutschmann, Barbara Glinsner and Dominik Klaus (all Centre for Social Innovation).
The report was produced at the request of the Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection (Austria) and the federal office of the Public Employment Service Austria (Arbeitsmarktservice - AMS).
The OECD team further expresses its gratitude to the many stakeholders from Austria who provided inputs into the report during fact-finding meetings, including from the AMS’ regional offices in Vienna, Salzburg, and Tirol, its Centre for Cross-Regional Placement (Fachzentrum Vermittlung Überregional) and Service for Enterprises (Service für Unternehmen), as well as the Austrian Integration Fund (Österreichischer Integrationsfonds) and the Integration Division (Abteilung Integrationskoordination) of the Federal Chancellery of the Republic of Austria. Special thanks are due to the members of the Department for International Labour Market Policy and Research of the Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection, notably Johannes Schweighofer and Bernhard Moshammer, who supported the project by facilitating exchanges with stakeholders in the country and providing inputs to the overall report.
The OECD would also like to thank the LEED Delegates from Australia for their comments on the draft report.