In view of the shortage of skilled workers, FDP boss Lindner wants to get more older people and social benefit recipients into work. There must be incentives for this. At the same time, he criticizes the retirement age of 63 as a “set-aside bonus”.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner wants to activate more people for the labor market in view of the shortage of skilled workers. There are “millions of people who are theoretically available for the labor market, but who live on social benefits,” said the FDP leader to the newspapers of the Funke media group. Lindner emphasized: “We have to encourage these people to enter the job market with at least one mini or midi job.” Further measures are a later retirement and an increase in part-time work.
Retirement at 63 is one “decommissioning premium”
“We should overcome unwanted part-time work through better childcare. And why don’t we set incentives so that people want to work longer – instead of financing their pension at 63?” said the FDP leader. The pension at 63, which had been enforced by the coalition partner SPD, is a “commissioning bonus for qualified employees,” criticized Lindner.
Lindner also expressed skepticism about models for a further reduction in working hours. “Discussions about the four-day week will not help us to be able to finance our social level and our environmental standards in the long term,” said the finance minister.
criticism of Generalization from younger
The FDP boss did not want to follow the suggestion of the director of the German Economic Institute, Michael Hüther, to extend the weekly working hours or to reduce the holiday entitlement: “That is a matter for the collective bargaining partners.”
Lindner, meanwhile, criticized the remark made by Steffen Kampeter, general manager of the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations (BDA), that younger people in particular were not “in the mood for work”. The Minister of Finance said: “The generalization is wrong. We also have many younger people who want to make economic progress and are in the mood for performance.”
Number of bottleneck occupations increased
The Federal Employment Agency announced in June that the number of bottleneck occupations had risen sharply in 2022. Such a bottleneck was found in 200 of the approximately 1,200 professions assessed. That is 52 more than in the previous year. Skilled workers are now scarce in every sixth profession.
According to the report, the jobs with the greatest bottleneck include nursing jobs, professional drivers, medical assistants, construction jobs as well as jobs in childcare and automotive engineering. At the specialist and expert level, there is a lack of pharmacists, architects or IT staff. Compared to the previous year, occupations in hotel and catering services, in metal construction and bus drivers have been added to the list.