Starting a Business in Austria

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Why Start A Business In Austria?

Austria has an extraordinary heritage. It is vehemently protective over its intellectual and cultural history, which has been immortalised by some of the most famous thinkers and practitioners to ever contribute to the vast tapestry of human art and understanding. So you can thank the Austrians for making us, on the whole, a more edified people.

Another thing Austria has refined to an art is business. It has a fully developed market economy and relishes a high standard of living. It also has a robust relationship with its fellow European Union constituents, and investors coming from overseas generally find the legalities of setting up rather conductive and accommodating. Austria provides an attractive market with a stable political, economic and social climate, and is well situated for expansion to other neighbouring eastern European nations.

Recently, Austria has made important transitions in order to synergise its economic, legal and taxation framework with those of the EU community. Consequently, this has led to liberalisation of commercial laws, making Austria a far more enticing prospect than it once was.

As a member of the European Union and European Economic Area, the country welcomes the free movement of goods and capital. A helpful and dextrous support system is provided for foreign investment, both on a local and national level. The government operates a business development company called the Austrian Business Agency (ABA), which offers tremendous support and incentives for the foreign investor. Its main focus is in the telecommunications, consulting, electronics, hardware, software and metals sectors. The ABA has been known to help up to 600 companies at anyone time and this number is rising.

What is the population?

The population of Austria is 8.2 million.

Economic Overview

The Austrian economy benefits vastly from robust commercial relations, namely in the areas of banking and insurance. The economy is characterised by a large service sector, a healthy industrial sector, and a relatively small but successful agricultural sector. Its accession to the European Union has since drawn much foreign investment, enticed by its strategic proximity to some of the younger EU markets.

Successive governments have impressively pursued a sound economic reform program, focused on streamlining and establishing a more competitive business arena, in the hope of attracting further domestic and foreign investment.

What are the essentials to know?

Labour and workforce

Austria has a very low unemployment rate: in 2004, it was 7.1%. Job opportunities in the Marketing and Information Technology sectors are becoming increasingly available, and it is also very simple to start up your own enterprise in the country as Austria is encouraging and supportive of entrepreneurs.

The government employment service, AMS, is an excellent starting point if you are looking for a job in Austria. The Austrian Public Employment Service offers services, advice and information to companies and individual jobseekers. You are entitled to use the service if you are an EU citizen, and have been registered as unemployed in your home country. The internet is a great source if you are looking for a job in Austria and the press is also a very useful basis for job vacancies. You can access Austrian newspapers through the Kidon Media-Link website. The Austrian newspapers Der Standard, Die Presse, Der Kurier and Kleine Zeitung also all carry vacancies.

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