FORM Policy Brief Series

Who Is Building This Country? On the Tension Between the Need for Skilled Workers and Resistance to Immigration, as Seen in the Austrian Construction Industry

For decades, the Austrian construction industry has been supported primarily by migrant workers—about one-third of construction workers hold foreign citizenship, and an even higher proportion has a migrant background. At the same time, this same immigration is publicly framed primarily as a burden. This contradiction has real consequences: it jeopardizes affordable housing by creating a shortage of the “human” resource needed for the renovation boom, and it pushes a portion of the workforce on which the industry depends into precarious working conditions and subcontracting chains. If the country is to continue to be developed and built up, then migration policy and the construction industry must be considered together, rather than continuing to discuss them separately.

Kohlenberger, J., & Becker, S. C. (2026). Who Is Building This Country? On the Contradiction Between the Need for Skilled Workers and Resistance to Migration, Using the Austrian Construction Industry as an Example. FORM Policy Brief No. 01/2026 https://doi.org/10.57938/2111980c-1b5a-4309-a5b0-d7e9f31f6372