Government paves the way for wage dumping
ÖBB training package becomes a farce. Low-wage professions such as cooks, hairdressers and masseurs prove that there is not a lack of staff, but of decency.
List of shortage occupations 2026
With the draft of the Skilled Workers Ordinance 2026 , the federal government determines which professions will be opened up to the Red-White-Red Card in the coming year. The broad list now presented, which ranges from qualified nursing staff and railway professions to cooks, hairdressers and masseurs, is causing massive criticism from the vida trade union.
"With this list, the government is legalizing wage dumping," warns vida chairman Roman Hebenstreit. The signal to companies is clear – and extremely dangerous.
Fraud in domestic education
Hebenstreit reacts particularly sharply to the inclusion of central railway professions such as train drivers, shifters, dispatchers and wagon masters.
He recalls that the government recently announced a large training package for ÖBB:
"If we now have to react again via labour migration, this training package was obviously a sham. This is a failure of personnel planning in ÖBB management."
Instead of holding those sectors accountable that invest too little in domestic training , they would now be rewarded with access to third-country workers. For taxpayers who finance such packages, this is an affront.
There is no shortage of people – there is a lack of wages
For vida, the inclusion of numerous low-wage occupations exposes the actual logic of the shortage occupation list: It is not a lack of workers that is the problem, but poor pay.
"When professions such as cook, hairdresser or masseur are chronically underpaid, it's no wonder they can't find anyone. Politicians consider this to be a shortage - but it is simply a wage problem."vida-Vorsitzender
Hebenstreit emphasizes that the government is sending a completely wrong signal to companies: instead of improving working conditions, it is enabling the recruitment of people from third countries, who often have to work in precarious dependent conditions .
Perfidious strategy in the health and social sector
The union is particularly critical of the development in the health and social services sector - an area that is already working at the limit.
Hebenstreit shows that some state governments are simultaneously cutting salaries and worsening working conditions in order to make professions "cheaper".
A drastic example is provided by Salzburg, where the black-blue government has announced the end of the care bonus :
"You artificially create a shortage, declare the jobs unattractive - and then look for personnel in third countries with reference to the shortage occupation list. This is cynical and extremely dangerous."vida-Vorsitzender
The result: nursing and social professions are politically starved in order to later justify "cheaper" alternatives from abroad.
vida calls for a change of course: Good work instead of cheap tricks
The trade union vida expects the federal government to return to reality before the Council of Ministers and revise the draft.
"A shortage occupation list does not solve structural problems. Good wages, predictable working hours and fair conditions are. We need a real strategy for skilled workers – and that starts with massive investments in training in Germany."
Instead of paving the way for wage dumping, we need a labour market policy that strengthens people – not corporate savings models.
