Economic policy aims at the sustainable improvement of the citizens' quality of life by securing employment, income growth and fair income distribution with due consideration of adequate social and environmental standards. The Federal Ministry of Economy, Family and Youth primarily deals with questions of structural policy and searches for long-term solutions.

Center 1 develops strategic approaches, coordinates its conceptions of economic policy with those of other organisational units in the Ministry and also undertakes the implementation in partial areas.

The current emphasis is on location policy, employment policy and competition policy for Austria as well as in the European context. Location policy formulates positions and measures for the sustained enhancement of Austria's international competitive strength. Its results are closely connected with employment policy, which also receives many impulses from overall European employment strategy. Competition policy creates the market framework for the other policies.