DEHOGA: Proposals from the Pensions Commission threaten one million mini-jobs in the hospitality sector

DEHOGA President Guido Zöllick comments:

“The Pension Commission’s proposals are out of touch with the realities of business and would be a disaster for the hospitality sector. First, mini-jobs are to be made significantly more expensive through higher social security contributions; now there is a threat of the complete abolition of an employment tool that is indispensable to our sector. This is a direct attack on labour market flexibility and on the hospitality sector’s ability to create jobs.

In the hospitality sector alone, there are around 1.1 million people in marginal employment. Mini-jobs are of central importance to the many thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises in organising staffing to meet their exact needs. They cover evening shifts, weekends and events, and help to cope with seasonal peaks in demand – as is currently the case during the beer garden season.

At the same time, mini-jobs are a successful element of labour market policy. They generally meet the needs of employees, enable flexible working and prevent people in secondary employment, those earning extra income and students from turning to undeclared work.

Anyone who wants to restrict mini-jobs to school pupils overlooks the fact that many of them are under 18 and, due to the rightly strict legal requirements, are often unable to take on the evening and weekend shifts that are particularly important for the catering and hospitality sectors.

Incidentally, mini-jobs do not displace jobs subject to social security contributions – they support them. In many cases, conversion to regular employment is simply not possible due to the low number of hours worked.

Instead of making work in Germany increasingly expensive and calling into question tried-and-tested forms of employment, Germany needs more flexibility, more incentives for employment and a higher take-home pay – not less.”