Part-Time Debate in Austria: Hattmannsdorfer Wants to Abolish the Marginal Employment Threshold

Economy Minister Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer (ÖVP) wants to freeze the marginal employment threshold due to the high part-time employment rate in Austria. Those who remain below this threshold, currently 551.10 euros per month, do not have to pay contributions to pension and health insurance. This saving of over 1,100 euros net per year is "a clear reason" to stay below the threshold, as the minister said in an interview with the radio station Ö1 on Wednesday.

Entitlement to Benefits According to Hattmannsdorfer Partly Responsible for High Part-Time Rate

As a press spokeswoman explained to the APA, the marginal employment threshold has already been frozen for two years until the end of 2026. The aim is to continue freezing it. Hattmannsdorfer calls for the fixed income limits for social benefits to be reviewed as well. Those who increase their hours may lose their entitlement to social assistance or the ORF fee exemption. Hattmannsdorfer also sees this as a "real obstacle" to working more.

Austria has the second-highest part-time employment rate in the EU at 36.1 percent. According to ministry data, the part-time rate has more than doubled since 1994, while at the same time, the average number of hours worked has decreased more sharply here than in any other EU country.

Currently No Budget for Full-Time Bonus

Hattmannsdorfer has long been bothered by a "lifestyle part-time wave," as he calls it, but admitted to Ö1 that there is currently no budgetary room for tax incentives for full-time work. He wants to exclude from the debate people who work part-time due to caregiving responsibilities or health reasons.

Criticism from SPÖ Side: Part-Time Work is Not Done "Just for Fun"

Recently, critical voices have emerged from the coalition partner SPÖ and the union regarding the debate initiated by Hattmannsdorfer. Burgenland's Governor Hans Peter Doskozil (SPÖ) said in an APA interview about people working only part-time: "They are not working part-time just for fun, family life cannot be organized differently." ÖGB Federal Managing Director Helene Schuberth sees it similarly: "Portraying part-time work as 'luxury' or a lack of willingness to perform ignores the facts. Part-time work is not a wishful concert, but often a necessity - especially for women."

The union (ÖGB) fears an opposite effect than hoped for by Hattmannsdorfer - that is, that those affected will work less. If the marginal employment threshold is frozen during annual (collective agreement) income increases, "then people will work less and less to just stay below the threshold," according to the ÖGB.

IV and Chamber of Commerce Support the Minister's Proposal

Support for the economic minister's proposal came on Wednesday from the Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Austrian Industries (IV). "There is an urgent need for positive incentives to make full-time work more attractive again," says IV Secretary General Christoph Neumayer in a statement. "Negative performance incentives in the tax and social system need to be reduced." Chamber of Commerce Secretary General Jochen Danninger stated that it is about removing barriers that stand in the way of increasing working hours.

(APA/Red)

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