In view of the prevailing labor shortage, AMS boss Johannes Kopf does not currently believe in a general reduction in working hours. The situation is different than before, now there are “too few people” on the job market. The unemployment rate is the lowest in 15 years – and will continue to fall next year, he said on Monday in the “ZiB2”.
In some sectors – IT or services – shorter working hours would be conceivable. Also “individually” it could help individual companies to find new employees more easily with more attractive models. But the “overall answer” could not be the reduction in working hours if there were labor shortages in many areas, said Kopf.
The head of the AMS thought it would make sense in theory to work fewer hours per week but longer, beyond the current retirement age. However, it would be difficult to implement this politically, he admitted.
What is important now are incentives to encourage people to work longer. Above all, this includes the question of childcare costs and places. You should also consider changes, for example to the marginal income threshold. That is relatively high at 500 euros. One could consider asking for social security contributions (“about 70 euros”) even below that, Kopf argued in favor of reconsidering the preference for part-time work in the duty and tax system.