Marginal employment in Austria: the rules below the limit

The 2026 limit

A job is marginal if the pay due for the month does not exceed €551.10 (ÖGK variable values 2026). Unlike most social insurance figures, the limit was not uprated for 2026 and has stayed the same since 2025. There has been no daily limit since 2017; only the month counts. Special payments such as holiday and Christmas pay are left out of the test (Business Service Portal). The German word you will see on contracts and payslips is geringfügig, literally “minor”; in everyday speech people say Minijob.

Each month is judged on its own. If you work extra hours in December for the Christmas rush and go above €551.10, you are fully insured for that month. A job lasting less than a month stays accident-only if its pay does not exceed the monthly limit; a regular job that merely starts or ends mid-month does not become marginal because of the short month. The hourly wage page shows how many hours fit under the limit at a given rate.

Gross equals net, but accident cover only

Below the limit you pay neither social insurance nor wage tax; what is on the payslip is what reaches your account (oesterreich.gv.at). The trade-off is thin protection: you are insured against accidents at work, but you have no health or pension insurance through the job, and marginal employees are never covered for unemployment. If nothing else covers you, for example as a dependant of a parent or partner or through a main job, you have no e-card benefits and build up no pension months. This matters for students from abroad and for partners of expats who take a small job while settling in.

Under employment law you are an ordinary employee. Paid holiday, care leave and severance apply on the same terms as for everyone else, and you receive special payments if your collective agreement provides them (USP).

Opt-in insurance for €83.49

Marginal employees living in Austria, the EU, the EEA or Switzerland can insure themselves for health and pension (ÖGK, self-insurance under section 19a of the General Social Insurance Act). The key points for 2026:

• contribution €83.49 a month, €1,001.88 a year, not split for part-months, due at the start of the month and payable by the 15th;
• apply to the ÖGK in the federal state where you work; a first application within six weeks of starting gives cover from day one, otherwise from the day after you apply;
• benefits: doctors, hospital, medicines and, where applicable, sick pay and maternity pay; co-insured relatives get benefits in kind;
• not available while you receive unemployment benefit, emergency assistance, childcare allowance or your own pension, or if another insurer covers you compulsorily.

Cover ends if you fall two months behind with payments, and after cancelling or arrears a three-month waiting period applies. The contribution equals 15.1 % of pay at the limit, which is modest for health cover plus pension months.

Below or above the marginal-employment limit?

Monthly earnings gross

€

Marginal: net = gross

€520.00

Limit 2026	€551.10
Distance to the limit	€31.10
Social insurance	€0.00

Gross-to-net calculator →

One cent over the limit

Once you cross the limit, health and pension insurance, the Chamber levy and the housing contribution are charged on your entire pay at once. Unemployment insurance stays at zero at these amounts thanks to the reduced scale, but net pay still drops sharply:

Only at €649.27 gross is net back to the level at the limit. In between you work for less money, but you are fully insured without paying €83.49 yourself. If you would buy the opt-in cover anyway, crossing the limit costs you less than the table suggests.

Several small jobs, or a small job next to a main job

Marginal jobs are added together. If the total exceeds €551.10, health and pension insurance become compulsory on all of the pay (USP). The employee share is 14.12 % according to the Chamber of Commerce overview; with two jobs of €400 each, €112.96 a month.

Next to a fully insured main job, the small job carries health, accident and pension contributions. For tax, holding two jobs at the same time makes an annual assessment mandatory (section 41(1)(2) of the Income Tax Act): the tax office adds the small job to your salary and taxes it at your marginal rate.

Unemployment benefit and small jobs since 2026

Since 1 January 2026, anyone in work, even a marginal job, no longer counts as unemployed (Chamber of Labour, unemployment insurance 2026). A small job is only allowed in exceptional cases, such as one you already held for at least 26 uninterrupted weeks before losing your main job. The other exceptions, and the rules for emergency assistance, are on the earning alongside unemployment benefit page.

The employer side

Employers must register marginal employees with the ÖGK and pay 1.10 % accident insurance for them. If an employer’s total marginal pay in a month exceeds €826.65, the employer levy is added; the Chamber of Commerce overview then shows 20.50 % in total. That threshold is one and a half times the marginal limit and was not raised for 2026 either (ÖGK). The full cost of a hire is in the employer cost calculator.