Over ten years, the number of German residents working two jobs increased by one million people
As "Russkaya Germaniya" writes, the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit) provided this data in response to a request from Bundestag deputy Sabine Zimmermann of the Left Party. "An increasing number of workers employed full-time do not have enough income from their main job and are forced to take on extra work," the politician interpreted the data.
German leftists advocate a significant increase in the minimum wage: the minimum hourly wage introduced by the ruling coalition is currently 8.50 euros, and next year it will rise to 8.84 euros per hour. According to politicians of the Left Party, one needs to earn at least ten euros per hour to be able to live on one salary.
Representatives of the employment agency disagree with Sabine Zimmermann's assessment of the statistical data provided: "It's not just about money – there are enough reasons why people take on a second job," say agency press office representatives. Additional part-time work is often associated with a reduction in working hours at the main workplace. In such a case, it becomes more profitable for the worker to work two jobs simultaneously, paying less tax on the main job due to reduced working hours and avoiding tax deductions on income from the "mini-job." The same applies to those initially employed part-time – mostly women working 20-30 hours a week and taking on extra work, for example, in the service sector on weekends.
According to the agency, 7,381,055 people in Germany are "mini-jobbers," and for 2,478,857 of them, the part-time job is a supplement to their main occupation. The most common type of such low-skilled work is in the service sector. For example, 46.9 percent of workers at German gas stations, 42.4 percent of cleaners, 33 percent each of hotel employees and street/market vendors, 26.5 percent of secretaries, 22.6 percent of security company employees, 20 percent of German caretakers, and 19.2 percent of workers at exhibitions and fairs earn no more than 450 euros.