Austria Slashes Training Subsidies and Introduces Employer Co-Payments in Policy Overhaul
08.06.2026 - 08:46:45 | boerse-global.de
Austrian employers will now have to shoulder 15 percent of the training leave allowance for any employee earning more than €3,465 gross per month. The new requirement took effect today as part of a sweeping reform that replaces the country’s former Bildungskarenz (educational leave) with a stricter programme called Weiterbildungszeit (training time).
The change aims to curb what regulators and economists had called runaway spending. At its peak, the old education-leave scheme cost the public purse more than €500 million annually. The new model caps total annual expenditure at €150 million — a reduction of roughly three-quarters. Applications for the earlier programme closed in spring 2025; from today, workers can submit requests through Austria’s Public Employment Service (AMS).
Budget Cap and Tightened Eligibility
Unlike its predecessor, the new scheme explicitly ties funding to labour-market relevance. Only training that provides a skill usable outside the participant’s current employer qualifies for support. A direct transition from parental leave to training leave is also barred: a six-month waiting period now separates Elternteilzeit (parental part-time) from any subsequent Weiterbildungszeit.
There is no legal entitlement to the benefit. The arrangement remains a voluntary agreement between employee and employer. Anyone earning less than the €3,465 threshold must undergo mandatory career counselling before filing an application.
Academics face the stiffest entry hurdles. Holders of a master’s degree or equivalent diploma must have completed at least four years of continuous insured employment before they can apply.
Stricter Time and Education Commitments
Participants must have worked for their current employer under full pay for at least twelve consecutive months prior to applying. The training leave is capped at one year full-time, or two years if taken as a part-time variant.
Time requirements are precise: full-time participants must document 20 hours per week spent on training. Workers with caregiving responsibilities can count 16 hours. University students need to earn at least 20 ECTS credits per semester. In the part-time track, the minimum falls to ten hours per week.
How the Allowance Works
The financial support follows an income-linked sliding scale. The minimum daily rate is €41.49, which translates to roughly €1,286 for a 31-day month. Including the employer’s contribution, the maximum monthly payment reaches €2,163.
For employees above the €3,465 earnings threshold, the employer must cover that 15-percent share — a mechanism designed to give companies a direct financial interest in the training’s relevance.
The full impact of the overhaul will become clearer as the first participants complete the programme in the months ahead. For now, the message to both workers and businesses is unambiguous: Austria wants training leave that serves the labour market first.
