During the pandemic, 5,700 mini-jobs in the Hanover area were lost
REGION
If Corona costs the job: During the pandemic, the number of mini-jobs in the Hanover area has decreased significantly. In the middle of last year there were around 109,000 jobs on a EUR 450 basis in the city and region of Hanover – that is 5,700 fewer than two years earlier (minus 5 percent).
The hospitality industry is particularly affected: 3,250 mini-jobs were lost here in the same period – a slump of 21 percent. This is announced by the food, pleasure and restaurants union. The NGG relies on figures from the Federal Employment Agency. According to this, the number of low-wage jobs throughout Lower Saxony fell by 54,100 or 7 percent after two years (hospitality: minus 24,400 / 22 percent).
“450-euro workers are among the main losers in the pandemic. From the kitchen help in the restaurant to the saleswoman at the bakery counter – many mini-jobbers live in constant fear of being fired. They are not entitled to unemployment benefits or short-time work benefits.” , criticizes Lena Melcher, Managing Director of the NGG region in Hanover. The trade unionist warns that in the future even more people could slip into such insecure jobs and thus have to work under precarious conditions. “If the federal government raises the earnings limit for mini-jobs, then that should displace many regular jobs. For those affected, most of whom are women, this becomes a career trap.
According to the plans of the Berlin traffic light coalition, mini-jobbers should be able to earn 520 instead of 450 euros a month in the future – without, for example, automatically being insured for unemployment. The union sharply criticizes the draft law, which will be discussed in the Bundestag in the spring: “Politicians are continuing to expand precarious and crisis-prone positions instead of containing them. This is a mistake – especially after the experience with Corona. Many mini-jobbers have at the Short-time work looked down the drain or lost their job.”
The NGG refers to the coalition agreement. In it, the SPD, Greens and FDP write that it must be prevented “that mini-jobs are misused as a substitute for regular employment or become a part-time trap”. The union is therefore calling on the local members of the Bundestag in the traffic light coalition to keep this promise and “put the law on a solid footing”. Remedy could probably only create an effective reform: For mini-jobs, social security would have to apply from the first euro. Employees can only be effectively protected if social security contributions, health, nursing care and pension insurance contributions are paid.
According to NGG regional manager Lena Melcher, this would have positive effects locally: “The abolition of the special regulations for mini-jobs would help to combat the shortage of skilled workers. In the city and region of Hanover, hoteliers and innkeepers in particular are complaining that they can no longer find staff. But you don’t win professionals if you offer hardly any secure jobs with a few hours per week, but regular employment contracts with prospects and a social network.