Factsheet for measure
AT-2023-22/3688
– measures in Austria
Eco booster
Ökobooster
Background information
The City of Vienna has set the goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2040. Thus, a strategy called “Out of Gas – Vienna Heat and Cold 2040” was taken up, which aims to phase out fossil energy for heating and cooling.
Around 600,000 households are to be converted from fossil to renewable energy systems until 2040. In order to manage this transformation, specifically qualified workers are needed in climate-relevant professional fields. Currently, the demand for labour cannot be met. Thus, the Chamber of Labour (AK) Vienna initiated together with the regional branch of the PES (AMS) and the Vienna Employment Promotion Fund (waff) the programme “Eco booster”. It targets unemployed, low-skilled young adults (no finished apprenticeship training) of 18 to 24 years who have not finished education, with a focus on migrants/refugees (who are often disadvantaged on the labour market/in qualification) and female young adults.
Those young adults are offered the opportunity to become qualified in climate-relevant professions of the future (electrical engineering, installation, building technology).
Content of measure
The programme has a duration of two years during which an apprenticeship training is completed in the form of the tried and tested instrument of the AMS of the “skilled worker intensive training” (“Facharbeiterintensivausbildung”). This training has been in place since the 1970s and provides apprenticeship training for adults in half the regular time, with 80% practical and 20% theoretical education.
The Eco booster measure prepares the participants for the final apprenticeship examination in both practical and theoretical terms. At first, a six-month pre-module during which participants are taught German and mathematics skills in a job-specific and practice-oriented framework is provided with bilingual trainers. This phase is followed by the intensive skilled worker training for installation and building services engineering (18 months) or for electrical engineering (21 months), completing with an apprenticeship certificate. In addition, several accompanying support measures are provided in the area of social-educational support. Thus, workshops on personal financial management and on "professional etiquette" are offered throughout the duration of the training in order to ensure that many participants can successfully complete the training. Through a cooperation with psychologists, free psychological counseling is provided to the participants if required. Nonetheless, in case of drop-outs, alternative perspectives are developed.
The training is provided in further training institutions. Participants receive financial support (individual assessment by the AMS), for example in the form a living allowance. The education itself is free of charge for them. A collaboration with several companies in Vienna ensures that graduates of the measure gain comprehensive practical experiences and can enter the job market immediately after finishing the programme.
Use of measure
The Eco-Booster project aims to train at least 100 young Viennese people to become specialists in electrical engineering and installation and building technology by 2027.
The first four pre-modules started with 60 young adults in June 2023, the first graduates will be able to enter the labour market in mid-2025.
Target groups
Actors and funding
|
Actors
|
Funding
|
Trade unions
Local / regional government
Public employment service
|
Regional funds
|
Social partners
Social partners' role in
designing the measure
and form of involvement:
|
Trade unions
|
Employers' organisations
|
|
Role
|
Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative
|
No involvement
|
|
Form
|
Any other form of consultation, institutionalised (as stable working groups or committees) or informal
|
Not applicable
|
Social partners' role in the
implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:
-
Only trade unions
-
Main level of involvement: Regional or local level
Involvement
This project was initiated by the Vienna Chamber of Labour together with the Vienna branch of the PES (Arbeitsmarktservice) and the Vienna Employment Promotion Fund (WAFF). The Chamber of Labour was and is thus involved in the design, implementation and monitoring of the measure.
Views and reactions
The labour side of the social partners (Chamber of Labour AK, trade unions) are naturally supportive of the measure, due to the AK's involvement.
No information on the business side's views could be identified.
Sectors and occupations
This case is not sector-specific.
-
This case is occupation-specific
-
|
Occupation (ISCO level 2)
|
|
Building and related trades workers, excluding electricians
|
|
Electrical and electronic trades workers
|
Sources
