(AMS) imposed a suspension of 162,391 unemployment benefits in 2025
Austria’s Public Employment Service (AMS – Arbeitsmarktservice, Public Employment Service) suspended unemployment or emergency benefits 162,391 times in 2025, according to official figures. The total is close to last year’s level, reflecting continued strict enforcement of labor market rules.
Nearly half of the sanctions were linked to relatively minor violations. These included 52,302 cases of missing scheduled appointments and 29,206 cases of voluntary resignation. The number of resignations fell by 2.5 percent compared with 2024, attributed to the weak economy and limited job opportunities.
Around 80,000 sanctions were related to what AMS classified as insufficient willingness to work. This included 43,206 cases of missing one day of training courses and 35,944 cases of six-week suspensions for refusing job offers, rejecting training programs, or deliberately failing to participate in them.
The data also showed a sharp rise in cases of complete unwillingness to work, up 17 percent from the previous year to 1,733 cases. In such situations, benefits are fully stopped, and no financial support is provided.
According to the newspaper Die Presse (The Press), the Vienna regional director of AMS, وينفريد غوشل, criticized the current system. He said allowing people to regain benefit entitlement after just one month of work is problematic, noting that in the past a full new entitlement had to be earned. He added that imposing sanctions is difficult because AMS carries the burden of proof and legal procedures leave no room for formal mistakes.