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In Germany, more and more people are only able to make ends meet with several jobs. The high inflation exacerbates the situation dramatically, especially for many families.
More than 3.5 million people in Germany have more than one job. The number has more than doubled in the past 20 years. Germany is becoming a low-wage country, complains the general secretary of the service trade union ver.di, Philipp Schumann: “With a minimum wage of twelve euros, you earn a little less than 2,200 euros for a 42-hour week all day. That corresponds to only around 60 percent of the average income in Germany and is enough that’s not the end of life.”
Delivering newspapers in the morning, courier trips at noon, jobbing in the bookstore in the afternoon, waiting tables in the cocktail bar in the evening: will American conditions soon prevail on our job market? Schumann would agree. Only when those affected earn around 80 percent of the average income will they no longer need two or more jobs. For this, however, the minimum wage would have to be 17 to 18 euros an hour.
Enough work, but not enough money
When the minimum wage was increased to twelve euros an hour on October 1, 2022, many hoped for an improvement in their standard of living. But inflation dashed that hope. According to the Joint Poverty Report, almost 17 percent of the population in Germany were most recently affected by poverty, and the trend is rising: the rapidly climbing prices of the past few months are turning more and more working people into poor people.
For example, a family of six from Wetzlar: Mother Anika has had to work several jobs since the beginning of last year to make ends meet. The cost of living – which has risen by more than 22 percent compared to the previous year – is taking its toll on her and her family.
Before inflation, her husband’s salary as a full-time industrial mechanic and Anika’s part-time job were enough. After that, however, the family was missing almost 700 euros a month. Since then they have been under constant stress: he works in a three-shift system, six days a week; she works as a multiple employee without weekends.
“An absolute burden, totally exhausting”
Anika is a school companion, participation assistant in the kindergarten and saleswoman in the bakery. “So many jobs at the same time are an absolute burden, totally exhausting. We are actually only working and thinking about how we can organize our jobs, our four children and all appointments.”
As a saleswoman in the bakery, she gets twelve euros an hour. As a school assistant, she earns 15 euros. Her life would be easier with just one job, for example as a pedagogical specialist. But for this to be enough to live on, it would have to be paid twice.
All layers of education are affected
The phenomenon of multiple employment on the German labor market has long since ceased to be limited to people in the low-wage sector. It ranges from school leavers without a degree to academics. Olaf Karg, for example, studied social law. Until the end of last year, he was still an intermediary for construction financing. However, the rise in interest rates collapsed his business and he has been working as a multi-jobber ever since. He is a sound assistant at conferences, a DJ and a paramedic.
“In the worst months I was missing a high four-digit sum of euros. With just one job I would be 1000 euros short and would reach my financial limits,” explains the 53-year-old his situation. He can’t afford to turn down orders, otherwise there could be no lucrative follow-up orders.
Uncertainty as the only constant
“If I come home after a seven-hour day as a sound engineer and then I’m called to work as a paramedic at a trade fair, it can turn into a 14-, 15-hour day,” he says. And then the multiple employment also becomes an absolute burden for Karg.
His constant as a multi-jobber is uncertainty, his hope for the future is financial security, less stress and the possibility of better scheduling. These are wishes that Olaf Karg shares with many other multi-jobbers. But with rising costs and low wages, they are unlikely to be met.