Mini-jobs should be subject to social security contributions. This emerges from the recommendations of the Pension Commission. What is specifically planned and what employers have to prepare for.
According to the Minijob Center in Germany, around 6.5 million people work on a part-time basis. You earn up to 603 euros per month or 7,236 euros per year. Of these, the majority, around 4.2 million people, are employed exclusively in mini-jobs, as figures from the Federal Employment Agency also show. Almost 20 percent of the 6.5 million people are older than 65 years.
But that could soon be over. The Federal Government’s Pension Commission plans to abolish the mini-job model in its current form. This project would affect millions of employees and employers alike. In this article you will find out exactly what is behind the plans, what is actually meant by an abolition and what consequences companies could expect in the future.
What exactly does the Pension Commission suggest about mini-jobs?
Almost a week ago, the Old Age Security Commission set up by the federal government presented 33 recommendations for better old age security. Chancellor Friedrich Merz plans to implement all recommendations. According to Merz, a corresponding law should be introduced this year. The aim of the measure is to sustainably secure the retirement provision of people with low incomes and to minimize the risk of poverty.
One of them concerns recommendation number 26: mini-jobs. The wording of the paper states: “The Commission recommends that marginal employment relationships without an opt-out option be included in the GRV and that their special tax and social security status be abolished.”
In concrete terms, this means: In the future, mini-jobbers should automatically and obligatorily pay into the statutory pension insurance. There would no longer be the possibility of freeing yourself from it. At the same time, mini-jobs would be treated like normal employment relationships for tax and social security purposes. The previous special regulations for mini-jobs would no longer apply. Only school students would be exempt from this regulation.
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Opt-out: What does the principle of mini-jobs mean?
Since January 1, 2013, compulsory pension insurance for part-time employees has automatically been considered standard. This means that both employers and employees make contributions to the pension insurance. However, mini-jobbers can be exempted from their pension insurance obligation by submitting a written application to their employer in accordance with the opt-out principle. You will then no longer pay an amount of 3.6 percent for pension insurance, but employers will continue to pay a flat rate of 15 percent.
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Since July 2026: One-off return to compulsory pension insurance possible
Part-time employees currently have the option of being exempt from pension insurance requirements by opting out. Those who have decided to do so have had the opportunity to return to compulsory pension insurance for the first time since July 1, 2026. This option did not previously exist. After the one-time return, mini-jobbers then pay their own contributions of 3.6 percent into the statutory pension insurance in addition to the employer contributions. Mini-jobbers submit an application to their employer to have their exemption from compulsory pension insurance revoked. This can be found in the de minimis guidelines from January 2026. The applications are at the end of the document.Employers must document receipt of the application and record the change in the pay documents. They also report the lifting of the exemption to the mini-job headquarters. The exemption is deemed to be revoked if the Minijob headquarters does not object within one month of receipt of the report.
If the recommendations of the Pension Commission were to be fully implemented, as the federal government under Friedrich Merz had announced, the opt-out option would be completely eliminated and this return option would become unnecessary.
What do employers currently pay for mini-jobbers?
Employers currently pay several taxes for part-time employees. For commercial employers, the taxes paid to the mini-job headquarters are currently a maximum of 31.17 percent. The percentage is made up of:
- 15 percent pension insurance
- 13 percent health insurance
- 2 percent flat tax
- Levy U1, U2 and insolvency levy
The actual amount depends on whether it is a mini-job with an earnings limit or short-term employment, such as harvest helpers or trade fair staff. For the latter, the taxes are significantly lower. Since the mini-job is exempt from compulsory social insurance, the employer alone bears the taxes in the form of a flat rate. As a rule, there are no additional taxes for the employee.
What does abolishing the special status mean for employers?
If the mini-job were to lose its special status and become an employment subject to social insurance contributions, employers would no longer pay a flat rate amount. You then only pay the regular employer contribution of an average of 21 percent of your gross salary. This would initially mean relief.
According to Prof. Dr. Ulrich Walwei from the Institute for Labor Market and Occupational Research (IAB) says that this is exactly where the cost driver for employers lies: Hardly any employees would work permanently for a significantly lower net wage. The result would be demands for higher gross wages and higher employer contributions would in turn be incurred on these higher gross wages. “Without accommodation from employers, some of the mini-jobbers could withdraw from the labor market.” Walwei then considers both job cuts and an extension of the working hours of remaining employees to be possible. In concrete terms, this means that fewer people are working, but those who remain would work more and thus compensate for the loss.
The Confederation of German Employers’ Associations (BDA) also assumes that the adjustment will result in greater bureaucratic effort for employers and a shift to undeclared work. The change would also make workforce planning more difficult, particularly in industries that rely on short-term availability of workers. The BDA therefore considers compulsory social insurance for mini-jobs to be a mistake.
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Which industry would be most affected by this?
Those most affected by the abolition of the special status for mini-jobs would be people who work in retail and the maintenance and repair of motor vehicles. Together they number a little more than a million people, as the mini-job headquarters revealed in its last quarterly report. This is followed by the hospitality industry with around 873,000 marginal employees, which primarily includes the catering and hotel sectors.
The cut would be particularly noticeable there. Restaurants, bars and hotels traditionally rely on flexible temporary staff for evening hours, weekends and seasonal peaks. The German Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga) is therefore making its position very clear: “We will fight with all our might to maintain mini-jobs,” said managing director Jana Schimke to the newspapers of the Funke media group. “It is not possible to maintain this offer without our mini-jobbers.”
Who would be affected by the adjustment of the mini-job model?
If the special mini-job status were abolished, employees over the age of 65 would be most affected. According to an analysis by the mini-job center from March 2026, around 1.2 million people in this age group work in mini-jobs, including slightly more men (around 632,000) than women (around 581,000). Among women, the following age groups are 55 to under 60 years old (around 360,000) and 20 to under 25 year olds (around 358,000). Among men, the group of 20 to under 25 year olds takes second place with around 305,000 people.
An adjustment to the mini-job model would theoretically primarily affect pensioners, who are often dependent on additional income. Without the special mini-job status, they would be fully liable to pay taxes. However, the so-called active pension cushions the financial disadvantage, as Prof. Dr. Ulrich Walwei from the Institute for Labor Market and Occupational Research (IAB) emphasizes. You benefit from the monthly tax allowance of 2,000 euros. However, according to Walwei, the net wage would decrease for most other age groups who work a mini-job.
How do the political parties feel about this?
In the ARD program “Report from Berlin”, CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann spoke out clearly in favor of the reform. “In my opinion, even those who have a mini-job have to make provisions for their pension. That’s the core of the core,” he said. The SPD supports the initiative, as do the Left and the Greens. The AfD, however, rejects the abolition of the current mini-job model according to the plans of the black-red coalition. Kay Gottschalk, deputy federal spokesman for the AfD, described the plans as “another attack on top performers” and warned that higher non-wage labor costs would particularly affect small and medium-sized businesses and would ultimately cost jobs.
