Given the prevailing labor shortage, AMS boss Johannes Kopf currently does not believe in a general reduction of working hours. The situation is different from before, now there are “too few people” on the labor market. The unemployment rate is the lowest in 15 years – and will continue to fall next year, he said in the “ZiB 2” on Monday.
In some sectors – ICT or services – a reduction in working hours is conceivable. It can also help individual companies find new employees more easily with more attractive models.
Head: “Working less cannot be the total answer”
But the “global answer” cannot be short-time work if there are labor shortages in many areas, Kopf said.
The head of the AMS thought it would theoretically make sense to work fewer hours per week, but longer, beyond the current retirement age. However, it would be difficult to implement this politically, he admitted.
“Creating incentives to encourage people to work longer”
What is important now are incentives to let people work longer. This mainly concerns the costs and places of childcare. Also consider changes to the de minimis threshold. That is relatively high at 500 euros. Also below that, one could consider asking for social charges (“about 70 euros”), Kopf pleaded for a reconsideration of the preference for part-time work in the tax and levies system.
Source: Krone
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