DGB speaks of a “huge mistake”: mini-job limit should rise to 520 euros

DGB speaks of “huge mistake”
Mini-job limit should rise to 520 euros

From October, mini-jobbers should be able to earn more per month than the previous 450 euros. The traffic light coalition wants to raise the limit by 70 euros. While FDP boss Lindner sees a “chance for a little more net”, unions are sounding the alarm.

The upper limit for mini-jobs is to rise from 450 to 520 euros per month on October 1st. In an interview with the newspapers of the Neue Berliner Redaktionsgesellschaft, Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil said this should take place at the same time as the minimum wage was increased to twelve euros. “That’s what was agreed in the coalition – and that’s how we do it.” In addition, the limit for so-called midi jobs should rise to 1,600 euros.

The SPD politician has already submitted a draft law to increase the minimum wage. Companies had complained that the number of hours that mini-jobbers can work at most in a month then drops significantly. Therefore, the traffic light coalition, at the instigation of the FDP, had agreed to increase the mini-job limit. It is to be made dynamic in such a way that even with further increases, ten hours per week are possible as a mini job.

Finance Minister and FDP leader Christian Lindner spoke of good news for everyone who works in a mini-job: “For many hard-working people such as students or pensioners, this is the chance of a little more net.”

Criticism came from the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB). The expansion of mini-jobs is “a huge mistake,” explained board member Anja Piel. Because the corona pandemic in particular has shown that marginally employed people “need social protection against unemployment and entitlement to sick pay in an emergency”.

“Mini-jobs are of no use for your own pension either,” Piel explained. “Therefore, the pension insurance obligation must also apply to these employees without exception.” The full social security contribution must be borne by the employer. “Employees could then gradually participate in the financing up to parity as gross wages rise.”

Fear of crowding out regular jobs

“With the increase in the earnings limit for mini-jobs from 450 to 520 euros, there is a risk that mini-jobs will displace more and more regular jobs,” warned Guido Zeitler, chairman of the Food, Enjoyment and Restaurants Union (NGG). “Mini-jobs have been a part-time trap for years, especially for women”. For them, “poverty in old age is inevitable”.

The coalition wants to prevent mini-jobs from being misused as a substitute for regular employment or becoming a part-time trap, especially for women. To this end, she wants to monitor compliance with the applicable labor law for mini jobs more closely.

In the case of mini-jobs, the monthly gross wage goes directly to the employees up to the specified upper limit. The number of possible working hours results from the hourly wage. The company pays a fixed percentage of wages as a levy, which mainly includes social security contributions. For midi jobs with a limit of 1300 euros so far, the social security contributions for employees are reduced so that the deductions are not as high compared to mini jobs.

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source site-34