Markus Söder says Minijobs 'remain' in clash with German pension reform blueprint
CSU leader Markus Söder has broken with a government pension commission's call to abolish low-paid 'Minijobs', promising they will endure and warning of damage to hospitality, retail and farming.
Söder's guarantee
CSU chairman Markus Söder has drawn a red line in Germany's pension and social-reform debate. In an interview with the Augsburger Allgemeinen, the Bavarian minister-president declared that "the Minijobs stay," pushing back against a key recommendation of the coalition's pension commission. The current limit for a Minijob is 603 euros a month, and the commission had proposed scrapping the special tax and social-insurance status of these marginal jobs and folding them into the statutory pension system.
The Minijobs stay.
Söder acknowledged that protecting Minijobbers from old-age poverty could be discussed, but insisted abolition would be wrong and would "severely harm important sectors such as gastronomy, retail or agriculture." He added that the real pension reforms lie elsewhere.
The big reforms for the pension are different: the abolition of retirement at 63 and the entry into capital-funded old-age provision.
Blueprint from the commission
The pension commission, appointed by the black-red coalition of CDU, CSU and SPD, had urged the government to implement its proposals one-to-one. Its centrepiece recommendation was to end the Minijob carve-out, which has existed since 2003. Only school pupils would remain exempt. Labour minister Bärbel Bas (SPD) had warned against "talking the overall construct to pieces," while Söder had voiced criticism immediately after the recommendations were published.
Business revolt
A broad alliance of trade associations has reinforced Söder's position. In a warning letter to ministers Bas and health minister Nina Warken (CDU), the German Retail Association, the German Hotel and Restaurant Association, the General Association of Agricultural and Forestry Employers' Associations and other sectoral bodies urged that Minijobs be preserved in their current form. They argued that abolition or a significant increase in costs would hit both employees and businesses, noting that millions had opted for Minijobs deliberately while studying, raising families, caring for relatives or holding a main job.
- Minijob ('geringfügige Beschäftigung') introduced as a bridge into permanent work.
- Pension commission recommends abolishing Minijobs and folding them into pension insurance, with only school pupils exempted.
- Markus Söder tells Augsburger Allgemeinen Minijobs 'remain', saying abolition would harm gastronomy, retail and agriculture.
- Business associations warn ministers Bas and Warken against scrapping or making Minijobs more expensive.
- SoVD chair Engelmeier criticises Söder as backward-looking, saying full pension coverage fights old-age poverty, especially for women.
Social critics push back
The Sozialverband Deutschland (SoVD) immediately condemned Söder's intervention. Chairwoman Michaela Engelmeier called his remarks backward-looking.
Because by making Minijobs fully subject to pension insurance in the future, a very important building block for combating old-age poverty is being put in place. Here, women in particular have been disadvantaged so far because, due to a lack of childcare options, they often can only work part-time or in Minijobs.
She demanded investment in crèche, kindergarten and after-school care infrastructure, arguing that full pension coverage would be the more effective path.
Coalition fault lines
Söder's public guarantee exposes a rift within the ruling alliance. While CDU, CSU and SPD had initially signalled they would adopt the commission's recommendations virtually unchanged, the CSU leader's explicit promise that Minijobs will not be touched raises questions over how much of the blueprint can survive the legislative process. The debate pits the chancellor's party and its coalition partner against a key component of the reform package at a time when government finances are already under strain.
