24% of Wage Costs Back: AMS Funding for Your First Hire

What to expect in this issue

• Deep Dive - AMS funding for your first hire
• StartMatch News - 2022 research premium, the final stretch
• FörderRadar - New and expiring grants

🤿 Deep Dive: 24% of Wage Costs Back - AMS Funding for Your First Hire

In the Deep Dive we regularly present a financing or funding topic in detail. Today you will learn everything about the funding offered by the Austrian public employment service, the AMS.

When people think of funding, they think of the FFG, aws or the Vienna Business Agency. Few think of the public employment service, even though it helps with the biggest cost block of all: staff. Wibke Sagerer is an advisor at the Startup-Fachzentrum of the AMS. We asked her which AMS programs are genuinely relevant for startups and what to watch out for.

Why Should Startups Look to the AMS for Funding?

Because we fund where it hurts young companies most: personnel costs. Many founders associate the AMS only with job hunting. For companies, though, we have a whole range of programs that make a real difference in the early phase. Unlike classic innovation funding, we do not assess a project. It is about people and jobs.

Which Program Is the Most Interesting for Founders?

Clearly the EPU funding for your first employee. You at StartMatch received it yourselves, so you know what I am talking about.

And here comes the biggest misunderstanding right away: the name sounds like a one-person business in the classic sense, meaning sole proprietors. What is actually meant is every company that has not yet registered a single fully insured employee. So corporations such as a GmbH or a FlexCo can use it too. Most people do not know that.

Anyone hiring for the first time gets part of their wage costs reimbursed by us, namely 24% of the general contribution basis, as a rule for one year. The general contribution basis is usually the gross salary reported to social insurance. It is the basis on which both social insurance contributions and certain subsidies are calculated. Your accountant will know which figure is meant.

The requirements are manageable:

• The person in the company, meaning the founder, has been covered by GSVG health and pension insurance for at least 3 months
• You are hiring someone subject to full insurance for the first time, or for the first time in 5 years
• The new employee has been registered as unemployed for at least 2 weeks, or comes straight from completed training
• They work at least 50% of the statutory or collectively agreed weekly hours
• The employment relationship lasts longer than 2 months

What Do Applications Fail On Most Often?

The deadline. The application has to reach us through the eAMS account no later than 6 weeks after the employment relationship begins. In the daily rush of founding a company, it is easy to forget. Then the funding is gone, even if everything else would have been fine.

The second classic: the person was not registered as unemployed. If you poach someone directly from another job, you cannot use the EPU funding. My tip: talk to us while you are still recruiting. Then you know in advance what is possible.

Besides the EPU Funding There Is Also Arbeitserprobung and Arbeitstraining. What Exactly Are Those?

Both are ways to get to know someone in your company at no cost to you. During that time you pay no salary and no ancillary wage costs. The person receives their allowance from the AMS and is insured through us.

The Arbeitserprobung, a work trial, is always tied to a specific position. You have up to a week to check whether someone fits professionally and up to 28 days to see whether they fit the team personally, without a single euro in personnel costs. If it works out, you hire them.

The Arbeitstraining, a work placement, helps people gain professional experience, similar to an internship, for example after completed training or a degree. So it is exactly the right thing if you want to hire someone straight out of university. It lasts a maximum of 90 days. That is around three months of onboarding during which the person continues to receive their payments from the AMS. Hiring them afterwards is possible but not a requirement.

What Does That Mean in Practice for a Startup?

You can get to know potential employees without any risk, and during that time the person receives an allowance from the AMS that is at least as high as their unemployment benefit or emergency assistance, including family supplements. They are covered by health, accident and pension insurance throughout.

But one thing matters to me: this is not free staff. Both instruments are intended for unemployed people who have already tried and failed to find a job. For you it is a chance to meet someone you might never have invited in based on their CV alone.

How Does It Work?

Everything has to go through the AMS before it starts. The person talks to their advisor, in person or through their MeinAMS account, and together we clarify whether an Arbeitserprobung or an Arbeitstraining is the right fit. Anyone who simply starts and reports it afterwards receives no allowance.

What Would You Tell Founders Filling Their First Position?

Plan the funding in from the start, not after the contract is signed. An Arbeitserprobung or an Arbeitstraining can be the perfect entry point, and if it fits, the hire with the EPU funding follows. That way you significantly reduce both the risk and the cost of your first hire.

Thank you for talking to us, Wibke!

All information on the EPU funding is available here: EPU-Förderung für die erste Arbeitskraft

And on the Startup-Fachzentrum of the AMS Vienna here: Startup-Fachzentrum AMS Wien

🗞️ StartMatch News: 2022 Research Premium - Final Stretch Until 31.12.

For the 2022 financial year you can only claim the research premium until 31.12.2026. That is around 11 weeks from today. After that the premium for 2022 is lost for good, and there is no grace period.

The research premium returns 14% of your R&D costs as a credit to your tax account, even if you are operating at a loss. Many startups have no idea that their development work from 2022 qualifies.

Not sure whether your projects qualify? In a short call we will work it out together with you, free of charge and without obligation: 15 minutes with the founders

📡 FörderRadar: New and Expiring Grants

These Grants Can Be Submitted Now

FFG Talente regional 2026
Connecting educational institutions with industry and research, a consortium of at least one scientific institution, two companies and five educational institutions is required. Up to €130,000, funding rate up to 100%, open since 09.09.2026, submission until 02.12.2026.

Women TechEU
Equity-free grant plus mentoring for deep-tech startups with female founders. Up to €75,000 as a lump sum, eligibility submission on a rolling basis with weekly cut-offs until 13.07.2027.

FFG Go!Tech Praktika
Lump-sum funding for internship placements for high school graduates in scientific and technical fields. €3,800 for three months, €7,100 for six months, continuous submission until 04.11.2026 at 12:00 noon.

These Grants Are Expiring Soon

FFG Go!Tech Praktika 2026
STEM internships of at least three months for high school graduates at companies and research institutions doing R&D in Austria. Up to €7,100 per placement as a lump sum. Submission deadline only until 04.11.2026, at the latest on the first day of the internship.

FFG Praktika für Studentinnen 2026
Internships for female students in scientific and technical subjects at companies and research institutions doing R&D in Austria. Up to €8,480 per internship as a lump sum. Submission deadline only until 13.11.2026, and the round may close earlier once the budget is exhausted.

SFG Ideen!Reich
Innovation projects by Styrian SMEs, not available to companies that have not yet been founded. Up to €14,000 in the XS variant (funding rate up to 70% including bonuses) or up to €75,000 in the XL variant (up to 50%). The next XS cut-off is 16.11.2026, and the application has to be filed before the project starts.

Best of luck with your projects!

Best regards,
Robert & your StartMatch Team 👋