Austria’s New Further-Training Leave Scheme Approves 550 Applications in First Two Months
Austria’s redesigned further-training leave program, Weiterbildungszeit, has approved 550 applications since it launched on June 8, according to figures the Arbeitsmarktservice (AMS) provided in response to an APA inquiry.
A further 312 applications remain under review, while 471 have been rejected, most commonly because the request was submitted too early relative to the required lead time.
A tighter replacement for the abolished Bildungskarenz
Weiterbildungszeit replaces Bildungskarenz, the previous educational-leave program that was abolished last year amid budget pressure and criticism from Austria’s Court of Audit (Rechnungshof). At its peak, the old program cost the state more than €500 million annually; the new version caps spending at €150 million a year.
The redesign also narrows what qualifies. Under the old system, employees could take leave for essentially any training they chose. Under Weiterbildungszeit, the AMS only funds education and training that is directly labor-market relevant and usable across employers, a more targeted standard than before.
What applicants actually receive
The minimum Weiterbildungsbeihilfe (training allowance) for 2026 is set at €1,286 per month, or €41.49 per day, calculated on an income-based sliding scale. Including a mandatory employer contribution for higher earners, the maximum available support reaches €2,163 per month. According to AMS, nearly 29 percent of Weiterbildungszeit applicants already hold a university or university of applied sciences degree, suggesting the program is reaching a somewhat different, more highly qualified pool than the old Bildungskarenz did.
One earlier flexibility has disappeared: under the old system, participants could earn up to €551 per month through marginal employment on the side. Under Weiterbildungszeit, that’s no longer allowed, with only narrow exceptions.
Part of a wider AMS policy shift
The new training-leave rules arrive alongside another significant change this year: a sharp tightening of how much unemployment benefit recipients can earn on the side, in effect since the start of 2026. AMS chief Johannes Kopf said the agency won’t be able to fully assess how much this has shortened the average length of unemployment until later in the year, but pointed to early positive signals: in the first half of 2026, roughly 1,700 more people moved from marginal to fully insured employment compared to the same period last year, with around 1,000 of them staying with the same employer.
Why this matters right now
The rollout comes as Austria continues to grapple with elevated joblessness, the national unemployment rate climbed to 6.9 percent in July, marking 40 consecutive months of increases. Whether tighter side-earning rules and a more targeted training-leave program meaningfully shorten unemployment spells, as officials hope, remains an open question AMS itself says it can’t answer definitively until year-end data is available.
