Kocher: The education bonus will be continued as a NEW training supplement from 2024

2023-12-31 10:00:11

AMS training participants receive a staggered monthly supplement in addition to unemployment benefit

Vienna (OTS) – The so-called education bonus was launched in 2020 during the Corona pandemic to support people registered as unemployed with the AMS who are taking part in training measures with funding in addition to unemployment benefit. From a training period of four months, the training bonus provided for a training surcharge of around 190 euros per month. The federal government has decided to extend and expand this as a training surcharge for an unlimited period from 2024.

“With the NEW training supplement, participants in AMS training courses receive staggered funding, depending on the duration of the qualification, which significantly exceeds that of the training bonus. In addition, the training surcharge will be NEWly valorized, i.e. adjusted to annual inflation and thus secured in value. We want to encourage people registered with the AMS to take part in longer training and further education courses. Especially with longer training courses, the level of livelihood security plays a special role in the decision to pursue training. Staggering the time according to the duration of the training is intended to make it easier to complete longer qualification measures and reduce dropout rates,” emphasizes Labor and Economics Minister Martin Kocher.

Specifically, the NEW training surcharge provides three-stage funding. Depending on the duration of the training, training participants receive different amounts of supplements. Level 1, as a basic level of around 75 euros per month, is a basic training supplement that training participants receive when starting a training measure, regardless of its duration. Level 2 provides funding of around 224 euros per month and is granted for training periods of at least four months. Level 3 only applies to training measures lasting at least 12 months. In this final stage, people who have been in a training program for a year or longer receive a supplement of 374 euros per month.

“A large number of AMS training participants, probably around 145,000 people, can benefit from the NEW training surcharge. Since its introduction, the education bonus has reached around 104,000 people; due to the expansion of the target group, there will be more new training bonuses. Next year, a total of 50 million euros will be available in the AMS budget for this purpose. I am confident that the NEW training supplement will help encourage more people to take part in qualification programs. “This is relevant because qualification measures not only increase the labor market opportunities of those affected, but also have generally positive effects on the Austrian labor market,” concluded the Labor Minister.