Rethinking Labor Shortages: IHS and ÖAW in Dialogue

As workforce shortages intensify, a crucial question arises: How can we make better use of existing skills and deploy human capital more effectively? These questions were at the heart of a joint panel discussion organized by IHS and ÖAW as part of the annual conference of the Verein für Socialpolitik in Innsbruck.

Titled “Overcoming Structural Labor Shortages: New Approaches for a More Efficient Allocation of Human Capital,” the panel brought together Michael Kuhn (Vienna Institute of Demography/Austrian Academy of Sciences), Rudolf Winter-Ebmer (JKU Linz, Institute of Economics; Institute for Advanced Studies), and Steffen Müller (IWH Halle; Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg) to explore different perspectives and potential solutions to some of the key challenges facing labor markets and the economy. The discussion was moderated by Holger Bonin, Scientific Director of the IHS, and Alexia Fürnkranz-Prskawetz from the Vienna Institute of Demography/ÖAW.

As the first joint event within the collaboration between IHS and ÖAW, the panel also demonstrated the complementary strengths of the two institutions: combining scientific expertise, fostering exchange across institutional and disciplinary boundaries, and generating new ideas for addressing pressing social and economic challenges.

_{Fotocredit: Uni Innsbruck / Mario Webhofer}