This Survey is published on the responsibility of the Economic and Development Review Committee (EDRC) of the OECD, which is charged with the examination of the economic situation of member countries.The economic situation and policies of Austria were reviewed by the Committee on 23 May 2013. The draft report was then revised in the light of the discussions and given final approval as the agreed report of the whole Committee on 10 June 2013.The Secretariat’s draft report was prepared for the Committee by Rauf Gönenç, Oliver Röhn and Christian Beer under the supervision of Andreas Wörgötter. Romina Boarini provided valuable contributions. Research assistance was provided by Béatrice Guérard, with contributions from Seung‑Hee Koh.The previous Survey of Austria was issued in July 2011.

Austria has strong material well-being and quality of life. Steady growth in GDP per capita has been combined with low income inequality, high environmental standards and rising life expectancy. Supportive conditions for a dynamic business sector, generous cash benefits allowing families to provide extensive in-house services, a wide supply of public services and a well functioning social partnership system have helped achieve this performance. The Austrian population has therefore combined preferences for stability and work-life balance (wealth in time) with a thriving economy pursuing an active globalisation strategy.

Austria has enjoyed a remarkable performance in terms of low unemployment and steady convergence with top GDP per capita levels. This has been combined with low income inequality, high environmental standards and rising life expectancy. This was achieved with a unique combination of supportive conditions for a dynamic business sector, priority for family based care, a wide and deep supply of public services and a well functioning social partnership framework.

Austria enjoys strong material well-being and high quality of life. Steady convergence with top GDP per capita levels translated into decisive improvements in household disposable incomes while significant and effective redistribution has ensured low income inequality and poverty. This has been combined with gains in leisure time, especially time spent in retirement, low unemployment, high environmental standards, rising life expectancy, a well-functioning social support network and high subjective well-being. This performance was achieved with a unique combination of supportive conditions for a dynamic business sector, priority for family based care, a wide and deep supply of public services, and a well functioning social partnership framework. Particularly remarkable for a small open economy has been the degree of stability, which may have contributed to Austria’s high quality of life. However, a number of weaknesses also exist. Older, unskilled and in particular people with migrant background, have lower labour market attachments. Outcomes in education and health care are no more than average and are subject to inequalities. Family services are still mainly carried out by women, who have closed the gap in education attainment with men but face increasing tensions between work and family responsibilities and a high wage gap. Single parents and people with migrant background do not seem to have participated to the same degree as others in well-being gains. The gaps experienced by people with migrant background are in several dimensions larger than in the average OECD country.

Important challenges for the future of Austrian well-being arise from demographic and environmental trends, which make both synergies and trade-offs between well-being dimensions more prominent. The ageing of the population calls for a fair balance between life-time pension contributions and entitlements, drawing on the recent pension reform. Such progress will allowAustrians to make more informed choices between the length of their work and contribution periods and retirement length and income according to their preferences, without threatening fiscal sustainability. With female labour force participation rising, family policies should help reconcile equality of opportunity within families by promoting the availability, affordability and quality of support services. A growing share of immigrant groups with low human capital calls for remedial policies to preserve social cohesion, which requires stepping up efforts to promote human capital formation, fostering synergies between material and non-material sources of well-being for all. Environmental pressures arise from urban sprawl and the strong expansion of road transport. Urban sprawl increases the risk of floods and endangers biodiversity, while road traffic’s contribution to air pollution is significant with adverse health effects. Turning around these environmental trends will require more appropriate pricing of the externalities and better regional development policies to foster denser settlements that are well connected to public transport. This entails a need to strengthen co-ordination between different government layers and better integration of regional development with transport and housing policies to foster policy consistency.