On 9 May 2016 he briefly assumed powers and duties as Acting Chancellor of Austria while his coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party, underwent a change in leadership.

[5] From 1980 to 1992 Mitterlehner worked at the Upper Austrian economic chamber, where he assumed various posts, including the head of the marketing department.

Meanwhile, also in 2000, Mitterlehner was named deputy secretary general of the Austrian federal economic chamber (WKO), holding that post until 2008.

[5] Following the 2008 national elections, on 2 December 2008, Mitterlehner was appointed as Federal Minister of Economy, Family and Youth as part of the coalition government led by Chancellor Werner Faymann.

[10] After the ÖVP lost votes in provincial elections to the right-wing, anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPÖ) in 2015, Mitterlehner publicly threatened to quit the coalition government if Faymann's Social Democrat partners did not toughen their policies on migrants and shrink the welfare state.