“The effect of educational leave is moderate,” summarizes the Austrian Institute for Economic Research (WIFO) in a new long-term study on the use and impact of educational leave. However, the period under investigation no longer includes the Corona years, in which the number of people taking educational leave rose sharply.
The most important results: Of those who go on educational leave from employment, slightly fewer are in a job following twelve years than before. However, among participants following parental leave – one of the ÖVP’s main criticisms – the employment rate increased from 89.1 to 92.2 percent.
For both groups, educational leave led to higher monthly wages. After parental leave, women were able to benefit from higher cumulative income because they were increasingly employed and benefited from higher monthly wages. The survey revealed a consistently positive assessment of educational leave as an opportunity for qualification, personal development, compatibility with care responsibilities and health stabilization, according to the economic researchers. 84 percent of those surveyed said that the educational leave was relevant to their career advancement.
ÖVP proposals largely rejected by the Greens
Nevertheless, in a paper available to OÖNachrichten, Labor Minister Martin Kocher (ÖVP) demands that educational leave should generally no longer take place following parental leave. Furthermore, the required number of ECTS points should be increased from 8 per year to 16 per semester and exams would at least have to be taken. Otherwise the training money would have to be paid back. To this end, Kocher suggests that the daily rate should be doubled from the current €14.53 per day to €32.18 (roughly equivalent to the AMS allowance to cover living expenses) so that people with low incomes and low educational qualifications in particular are supported . Currently, educational leave is more like “a break for the educated middle class,” said economist Martin Halla recently in an OÖN column.
Read more: Time out for the educated middle class
The Greens reject these key points of Kocher’s proposals. “You have to look for another partner for that,” said Markus Koza, labor market spokesman for the Greens in the club, to the OÖNachrichten. However, he responded positively to the proposal to introduce compulsory educational advice, a quality assessment for educational leave and to increase the daily rate. The ÖVP’s planned tightening would mean that “between 40 and 50 percent of those taking educational leave would no longer apply”. That would push more women out of the labor market and result in the same costs for the AMS because many would then slip into unemployment.
Kocher would also like to have “better options for monitoring attendance through the mandatory presentation of confirmations of participation for courses and seminars” and self-study times only in addition to webinar or seminar formats.
Half a billion euros costs
Most recently, the costs of educational leave in Austria amounted to half a billion euros per year. The AMS has one billion available for all other continuing education offerings. A Court of Auditors report recently took a very critical look at this labor market policy instrument.
5999 applications in Upper Austria
In the previous year, almost 20 percent more applications for educational leave were submitted in Upper Austria alone. That was 5,999 applications following 5,030 in 2022.
Author
Ulrike Rubasch
Economics editor
Ulrike Rubasch
