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🇦🇹Complete Austria hiring guide

Hiring in Austria through an EOR (2026)

Here's what you need to know before you hire in Austria: what it really costs an employer, the employment laws that shape the contract, and how an Employer of Record lets you hire compliantly without opening a local entity. Every figure below is sourced and dated.

27.6%Employer cost on top
25 daysPaid annual leave
Days, not monthsTime to hire via EOR
Robbin Schuchmann
Written by:
Robbin Schuchmann
Co-Founder at EOR Overview
Last updated: February 23, 2026

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Getting someone on payroll in Austria is relatively quick once you have the right setup. An Employer of Record (EOR) can typically onboard an employee within a week or two, because Austria has clear, well-established employment rules and no major bureaucratic surprises at the start. What moves slowly is everything around collective agreements: with 98% of workers covered by collective bargaining, the applicable agreement for your employee's sector shapes their minimum pay, working hours, and entitlements, and getting that right takes careful reading before day one.

The numbers that shape your budget most are the employer social security contribution of 27.6% on top of gross salary and an average annual wage of 75,767 EUR. Austria also runs a 40-hour statutory work week, and with parental leave reaching 44 weeks, you should plan for longer absences than you might expect in other markets.

Austria at a glance

The statutory facts that drive a hire in Austria. Each row shows where the figure comes from and how current it is, so you can trust the number and check it yourself.

Pay & working time

Average wageper year75,767DatedOECD · 2024
Statutory work week40 hours/weekCurrentStatutory working time (national labour law) · 2024
13th-month salarycustomaryCurrentILO EPLex · 2026

Employer cost & tax

Employer social securityof gross salary27.6%AgingOECD · 2025
Employee social securitywithheld from pay17.9%AgingOECD · 2025
Total tax wedge47.1%AgingOECD · 2025
Corporate tax rate23%AgingOECD · 2025

Termination

Notice period2 weeksCurrentWorld Bank Employing Workers / B-READY · 2019
Severance pay0 weeksCurrentWorld Bank Employing Workers / B-READY · 2019
Employment protectionOECD EPL, scale 0–61.8DatedOECD · 2019

Leave & time off

Paid annual leave25 daysCurrentNational government · 2026
Public holidays13 daysCurrentNational government · 2026
Maternity leave16 weeksDatedOECD Family Database · 2024
Paternity leave4.3 weeksCurrentWorld Bank Women, Business and the Law · 2026
Parental leave44 weeksDatedOECD Family Database · 2024

Labour market

Retirement age63DatedOECD Pensions at a Glance · 2024
Unemployment rate5.5%AgingOECD · 2025
GDP per capita$58,269DatedWorld Bank Open Data · 2024
Union density20.2%DatedOECD/AIAS ICTWSS · 2024
Collective bargaining coverage98%DatedOECD/AIAS ICTWSS · 2024

What it costs to hire in Austria

Salary is only part of the bill. On top of gross pay you owe employer social security and statutory contributions. Here's what an example salary of $76,000 a year actually costs you as the employer.

Gross annual salary$76,000
Employer contributions≈ 27.6% of gross+ $20,983
Total employment cost$96,983
Your EOR handles the filings

Illustrative, based on the employer social-security rate above. An EOR adds its own service fee on top of this total and runs the income-tax withholding and statutory filings, which are withheld from the employee's pay, not paid by you.

On top of every euro of gross salary you agree with an employee, you pay employer social contributions of 27.6% of that gross. This single line item is what pushes the true cost of employment well above the headline salary figure, and it is the main driver of Austria's total tax wedge of 47.1%.

Income tax in Austria

The average effective income-tax rate is about . This is withheld from the employee's salary; an EOR runs the withholding and filing.

Employer contributions
Social security27.6%
Employee contributions
Social security17.9%

Employment-law essentials

The rules an EOR enforces in your contracts, and the ones most likely to trip you up if you tried to hire in Austria on your own.

Working time
Statutory work week40 hours/week
Pay & 13th salary
13th-month salarycustomary
Leave
Paid annual leave25 days
Public holidays13 days
Maternity leave16 weeks
Paternity leave4.3 weeks
Termination
Notice period2 weeks
Severance pay0 weeks

Statutory minimums shown. Collective agreements or contracts can be more generous; an EOR applies whichever is correct for the role.

Things to watch in Austria

A few Austria-specific details can catch foreign employers off guard.

  • Employer social contributions add up fast. At 27.6% of gross salary, employer social security is one of the higher rates in Europe. Budget for it from the start, not as an afterthought.
  • Collective agreement coverage is near-universal. With 98% of employees covered, the relevant sectoral agreement almost certainly applies to your hire. It can set pay floors, overtime rules, and extra benefits above the statutory minimum.
  • The total tax wedge is high. At 47.1%, Austria's combined employer and employee tax burden is significant. This affects how competitive a gross salary looks to a candidate versus what you actually pay.
  • Parental leave is long. At 44 weeks of parental leave, you need a realistic plan for cover. This is not a short absence, and Austrian law protects the employee's right to return.

EOR vs. opening your own entity in Austria

Use an EOR when…
You're hiring one to a handful of people in Austria.
You want someone working in weeks, not months.
You'd rather not own local payroll, tax and compliance.
You're testing the market before committing.
Open your own entity when…
You're scaling to a large local team long-term.
Per-employee EOR fees outweigh the cost of an entity.
You need full control of local employment and IP.

Choosing an EOR for Austria

Providers with strong Austria coverage onboard faster and carry less risk. A shortlist to start from:

EOR
Express Global Employment
FromContact for pricing
Read review

Compare all EOR providers in Austria

See our ranked best EOR providers in Austria

Common questions about hiring in Austria

Common questions about hiring in Austria through an EOR.

Do I need a legal entity to hire someone in Austria? +
No. An Employer of Record (EOR) already has a legal entity in Austria and employs the person on your behalf, so you can hire compliantly without opening your own entity. You manage the day-to-day work; the EOR handles the local contract, payroll, taxes and statutory benefits.
How much does it cost to employ someone in Austria? +
On top of gross salary, employers in Austria contribute roughly 27.6% in social security and statutory costs. An EOR adds its own service fee on top of that total employment cost.
How hard is it to terminate an employee in Austria? +
Ending employment in Austria generally requires a notice period of around 2 weeks and severance of about 0 weeks, subject to the reason for termination and the employee's tenure. An EOR runs the offboarding in line with local law to limit your risk.
How much paid leave do employees get in Austria? +
Employees in Austria are entitled to 25 days of paid annual leave, in addition to public holidays. Statutory leave is one of the entitlements your EOR administers automatically.
About the author
Robbin Schuchmann
Robbin Schuchmann
Co-Founder at EOR Overview
Robbin is the co-founder of EOR Overview, an independent research site for Employer of Record services. He has been in the international hiring space for over a decade.
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