Consequences of the corona crisis: mini-jobs are big losers in the pandemic

According to the Federal Employment Agency, 555,000 mini-jobs were lost in the pandemic – especially in the catering sector. In their distress, many of those affected changed industries and are now absent. How useful is the mini-job model?

All of a sudden she was left with nothing. In the lockdown last December, Melanie Zobatschew from Ulm first lost her apprenticeship as a forwarding agent and then her mini-job as a waitress in a bar. “That was not so easy, “the 20-year-old recalls.” Because I was able to pay off my rent with the 450 euros and went shopping with the tip or refueled my car. ”

Many fared like you. Mini-jobbers in particular became unemployed in the pandemic, most of them in the hospitality sector. Because they do not pay into unemployment insurance, there is no unemployment benefit for mini-jobbers. The contribution to the pension insurance is voluntary.

Mini-jobbers are leaving the restaurant business

Melanie Zobachev was lucky. The pandemic took her job and gave her a new one a few weeks later. At the vaccination center in Ulm, of all places, she found new work as a vaccination assistant. A temporary job, but still. Her colleagues were unemployed for a long time or ended up in the grocery store and elsewhere, where there was also work in the lockdown.

The bottom line was that the corona pandemic not only led to a loss of jobs, but also to a massive emigration of workers, especially from the catering sector. “People from our industry are particularly popular with other employers because they have a high level of social skills,” says Daniel Ohl from the German Hotel and Restaurant Association in Baden-Württemberg. The employers in his association are now feeling this.

New start and no staff

Marc Wiezorrek, for example, only reopened his Hotel-Restaurant Riffelhof a few days ago. Before the lockdown, 15 mini-jobbers were working in the restaurant in Burgrieden near Ulm. Wiezorrek would now like to hire just as many again. But he doesn’t find any.

He lost contact with his former employees in the lockdown. “They all went to other jobs,” reports the innkeeper. “And getting it back is very difficult.” Weekend work and work in the evening are the main reasons. Wiezorrek has opened again anyway. He now has to lend a hand with the washing up and has severely restricted the menu and opening times.

Innkeeper Wiezorrek has hoped to be able to keep his temporary workers after the lockdown. However, an employer cannot apply for short-time allowance for mini-jobbers. Then, he says, he tried to build a bridge for them himself. “For a month we continued to pay them the 450 euros in lockdown. But then it was no longer possible for us either.”

Discussion about reform of mini jobs

Economist Tom Krebs from the University of Mannheim is convinced that mini-jobs are not a good construction either for employees or for employers. Often full-time activities would be divided into several mini-jobs. “Breaking everything up into such small snippets is not particularly productive for companies either,” says Krebs. Work processes would have to be interrupted after a few hours and handed over to other employees.

He recommends paying social security contributions for every job from the first euro onwards, but keeping the percentage of deductions low for low incomes and then gradually increasing it as earnings increase. Then there would no longer be the hard limit of 450 euros, where there are deductions from the salary in one fell swoop and overtime is not worthwhile. So it can be worked a little more and a part-time job can then gradually turn into a full-time job.

“That was also the original idea behind the mini-jobs: that they enable entry into more intensive work in the long term,” recalls Krebs. In fact, he sees a “sticking effect” in mini-jobs: people got stuck in marginal employment.

Social security obligation from the first euro?

Compulsory social security from the first euro onwards would mean that people in marginal employment would also be entitled to unemployment benefits and short-time work benefits. Although you would only receive part of the already low salary, Tom Krebs hopes that the change will result in an improvement via a detour. “Without the hard limit of 450 euros, it is to be expected that more people will increase their working hours and thus their earnings. And then the social security benefits will also increase.”

The question remains whether this reform idea will also appeal to employers and employees. In any case, the innkeeper Wiezorrek then fears even greater difficulties in finding staff. Mini-jobs are attractive for employees precisely because there are no deductions from their wages. Economist Krebs counters this by stating that according to his model, if you earn 450 euros, you would only have to pay 20 euros in taxes.

Either way: Melanie Zobatschew definitely needs a part-time job as a temporary worker again. At some point the vaccination center will close. Then she wants to start studying and finance it with a part-time job. That’s why she’s back behind the counter two evenings a week. The bar she originally worked at opened again three weeks ago. It’s a mini job again.