How much the MPs earn in addition to their state income of 9,228 euros per month, they do not have to specify in detail. However, the data published by Parliament allow certain conclusions to be drawn. Once a year, the MPs have to report which of five income categories they fall into.
In the two highest income categories with earnings of more than 7,000 or 10,000 euros gross per month, there are only four female, but 20 male MPs. Women are clearly underrepresented here. Because while the proportion of women in the entire parliament is 40 percent, that in the two highest income categories is only 17 percent.
At 58 percent, the proportion of women among those MPs who have not reported any additional income is particularly high. These 43 full-time mandataries also include the club chairmen of the five parliamentary parties and the three presidents of the National Council, who earn significantly more than normal MPs, but are banned from working. Government members are also prohibited from doing part-time jobs.
A further 33 MPs earned less than EUR 1,000 gross per month with their part-time work (category 1). The proportion of women here is 42 percent. Another 42 MPs earn between 1,001 and 3,500 euros (category 2), of which 52 percent are women. And 38 mandataries earn between 3,501 and 7,000 euros (category 3). Here the proportion of women is only 16 percent. The real top earners in the House include the 13 MPs with additional income between 7,001 and 10,000 euros (category 4) and the eleven members with a gross monthly income of more than 10,000 euros (category 5).
Almost only men as top earners
The only women in this group are entrepreneur and Chamber of Commerce functionary Rebecca Kirchbaumer at ÖVP and Dell manager Karin Doppelbauer at NEOS. All other top earners are men: at the ÖVP the entrepreneurs Martin Engelberg and Peter Haubner, the doctor Werner Saxinger and Chamber of Commerce Secretary General Karlheinz Kopf. At the FPÖ there are four freelancers: the tax advisor Hubert Fuchs, the pharmacist Gerhard Kaniak, the lawyer Christian Ragger and the notary Harald Stefan. And at NEOS the hotelier and outgoing MP Josef Schellhorn.
Party managers Alexander Melchior (ÖVP) and Michael Schnedlitz (FPÖ) as well as the SPÖ’s – all male – top trade unionists Rainer Wimmer, Josef Muchitsch, Alois Stöger and Rudolf Silvan fall into the gross income category of over 7,000 euros. Three MPs who only moved up in 2021 did not have to report an income category for the previous year.
