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 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 is already frozen for two years until the end of 2026. The aim is to freeze it further. 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 rate in the EU at 36.1 percent. Since 1994, the part-time rate has more than doubled according to ministry data, 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 been concerned for some time about 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 people who work part-time due to caregiving responsibilities or health reasons from the debate.

Criticism from the SPÖ: No one works part-time "for fun"

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

IV supports the minister's proposal

On Wednesday, however, the Federation of Austrian Industries (IV) expressed support for the economic minister's proposal. "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."

(APA/Red)

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