On AMS money? A side job now suspends your payment
The number of people in Austria working a geringfügig job has fallen sharply this year, and the reason is a rule change that took effect on 1 January 2026. If you receive money from the AMS, a small side job no longer sits alongside it the way it used to.
Until the end of 2025 anyone drawing Arbeitslosengeld or Notstandshilfe could earn up to the Geringfügigkeitsgrenze — 551.10 euros a month — without it affecting the payment. Since January that combination is only permitted in five defined cases. You may keep a geringfügig job if you already held it for at least 26 weeks alongside fully insured employment before you became unemployed. If you are long-term unemployed you may take one single 26-week window. If you are long-term unemployed and either over 50 or assessed with a disability of at least 50 percent, there is no time limit at all. You may work while returning to employment after at least 52 weeks of illness or rehabilitation, for up to 26 weeks. And you may work during an AMS course lasting more than four months with more than 25 hours a week, which includes the Pflegestipendium.
If none of those five applies to you, taking the job does not reduce your payment — it interrupts it for as long as the work continues. That is the change people are being caught by, because the previous rule felt like a simple earnings ceiling and this one is a gate.
The threshold itself has been frozen. It stayed at 551.10 euros a month for 2026 instead of rising with the usual annual adjustment, because of the budget savings package. That freeze has a second effect worth watching: if a collective agreement lifts your hourly rate, a job that was under the line last year can cross it this year, which changes your insurance position and can cost you a benefit you were relying on.
One thing that has not changed: geringfügig employees are covered by accident insurance, and have the same rights to leave and to care leave as anyone else. Health and pension cover is not automatic — you have to take out voluntary insurance and pay monthly. If you are on AMS money and considering any paid work, check your case with the AMS before you start, not after.