In its audit report published at the end of April, the Court pointed to shortcomings in educational leave. Minister of Labor Martin Kocher (ÖVP) is now pushing for reform in this area and has received great interest from the Workers’ Chamber.
When it comes to advocacy, educational leave should also offer more and more opportunities to the low-skilled. A lever for this mainly consists of increasing the further training allowance, said Silvia Hofbauer, head of labor market and integration at AK Vienna on ORF radio. However, she does not entirely agree with the Court’s criticism.
Accompanied by women on parental leave
The Court criticized the fact that educational leave is often used by people who already have a high level of education and that women are increasingly taking parental leave. The time and content requirements for training and upskilling are low and can be used for publicly funded time-outs. In addition, the position on the labor market has in many cases not improved after the educational leave.
Hofbauer does not see that the requirements are generally too low. In many cases, the number of hours of training is quite large. In addition, the question of whether there is only a question of self-interest or further training related to the labor market can only be assessed individually. As for the criticism of extending parental leave through educational leave, Hofbauer said many women had no other choice due to the lack of childcare. You have to help women not to end up in this situation, Hofbauer said in the Ö1 “Mittagsjournal” on Monday.
Green indicates readiness for discussion
In the APA interview, the minister had previously announced that she wanted to reform educational leave. “I think it’s a good tool. Maybe we can do better,” he said. The green coalition partner signaled in the “Kurier” and in the “Standaard” on Monday that it is willing to talk, but not available for restrictions.
Since January 1998, the possibility of educational leave has existed. Employees can take two to twelve months off for training and further training. During the period of parental leave, there is a training allowance that corresponds to the unemployment benefit, roughly 55 percent of the previous net income. During the educational leave, marginal work is permitted up to a maximum of EUR 500.91 per month. However, the employer must agree to the educational leave, there is no legal right to it. There is no legal protection against dismissal during the period of educational leave. Since the required pre-employment period has been reduced from three years to six months, the number of recipients has risen sharply.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
