World Champion Austria Tyrol
Tyrol – hard-hit by the pandemic but on the way back up Christoph Swarovski, President of the Tyrolean Federation of Industries, and Christoph Walser, head of the Tyrol Economic Chamber, talk about “their” businesses and stand up for Tyrol.
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© Die Fotografen
yrol‘s economy started the second half of the year 2021 strongly. The recovery is visible but the cost of raw materials and a rise in infections remain a risk for autumn. The incidence figure dropped considerably in late spring, early summer, which in turn resulted in the economy going back up. After 15 months of recession there was a strong motion in Tyrol’s economy: The business climate index sprang
Christoph Walser, head of the Tyrol Economic Chamber
from the deep red back into the black and is back at the levels before the pandemic. Christoph Swarovski, President of the Tyrolean Federation of Industries, and Christoph Walser, head of the Tyrol Economic Chamber, can offer more details. Mr Swarovski, Mr Walser – how are Tyrol’s businesses doing? Christoph Swarovski: Most of our members are doing well. But a lot of them are fighting with supply problems and the lack of skilled workers is still there. The huge price hikes in building materials can be absorbed in investment projects. Even though the atmosphere is good right now, we can’t deny the fact that the industrial sector has been hit hard. But we are used to dealing with changes and use our time to find solutions instead of complaining. Christoph Walser: Our companies are definitely doing better than only half a year ago. Our latest economic indicators show this. In the beginning of the year, the business climate index, that is the mean value between the current economic situation and expectations for the next six months, was at -4 percentage points. Now it went up +44 percentage points and has thus reached the levels of 2019. Optimism is back even though there are differences in the various sectors. 61 percent of businesses in the manufacturing sector are happy with their economic situation; in the services sector this figure drops to only 32 percent. The biggest challenge in the months and years to come will be the lack of skilled workers. 70 percent of businesses consider this their biggest problem for 2021/2022. Causes for headaches among entrepreneurs are also the increased labour costs (48 percent), supply chain problems (47 percent) and surging energy and raw materials prices (48 percent). This bears down on the
