Austria has been suffering from a shortage of skilled workers for years.
But currently it is higher than ever before, according to the auditing and consulting company EY.
As the consultant found out, every second company has to accept a drop in sales as a result.
The situation for companies has thus worsened compared to the previous year, when the proportion of companies with a drop in sales was 39 percent.
At least one in six companies is currently complaining of a considerable drop in revenue of more than 5 percent as a result of the shortage of skilled workers.
According to the survey, two thirds of the companies see the shortage of skilled workers as an enormous risk for the future of the respective company.
Only one in five companies plans to hire additional people in the coming months, and recruiting skilled workers is a major challenge for almost nine tenths of companies.
The tourism industry, health care, but also the transport industry and trade are particularly hard hit.
The majority of companies are also open to employing refugees.
Nevertheless, the actual number of employees - not least because of legal hurdles - is relatively low, as a study by the management consultant Deloitte shows.
According to this, two thirds of the companies surveyed are generally open to employing refugees.
But only 43 percent actually hired people with a refugee background.
According to the study, the increased shortage of personnel plays a major role in this.
While the integration of refugees was the focus of a similar survey in 2016, around 60 percent of those surveyed now have economic necessity in their interest.