For the German economy as a whole, the main benefit of the Anschluss was the addition of the underemployed Austrian workforce. According to the official figures, the Anschluss added 401,000 unemployed to the German roll, increasing the labour reserve available to Germany by between 30 and 40 per cent. By contrast, the impact of the Anschluss on the all-important balance of payments was ambiguous. In the longer term, the effects were clearly negative. Like Germany, Austria depended on imports both for its food and industrial raw materials and it struggled to sustain
