Availability on the part of the employer and the unemployed, a dense network of agencies in the area and continuous monitoring of their application. This is how mini-jobs worked in Germany, a contractual form that allows you to work part time earning money exempt from taxes and social security contributions. From president of the federal employment agency in Nuremberg Frank Jurgen Weise has a privileged observatory on the German labor market: the agency provides a link between the unemployed looking for work and companies looking for employees. Weise was called to speak in front of the managers and entrepreneurs gathered at Cernobbio for the Ambrosetti workshop.
Together with him, moderated by Corrado Passera, also Michael Burda, professor of economics at the Humboldt University of Berlin, and Jorg Asmussen, German politician and former member of the executive committee of the ECB. A German trio in the chair. Because it is Germany that we look to when it comes to work. Germany stands out as the only country where the unemployment rate has decreased despite the fallout from the economic crisis. In 2008 unemployment was 7,5% while in 2014 it fell to 5,1% (data adjusted for seasonality) against an average increase for the EU28 of around 3 percentage points (from 7% to 10,2. 2005% the aggregate figure). Thanks in large part to the flexibility of the labor market, of which mini-jobs are the best known recipe. A model that many would now like to export to Italy. “Nothing is importable. But you can learn from the experience of others. Until XNUMX the labor market in Germany was a disaster and we learned a lot from Italy and other European countries”, Weise explained to Firstonline speaking on the sidelines of the Ambrosetti workshop. “Both employers and people – she added – must learn to accept flexibility. The Germans did it and for this the mini-jobs worked”.
In Germany, the Federal Employment Agency has thousands of agencies scattered throughout the country whose advisors know and have close relationships with local employers. “It's a local decision – continues Weise – the unemployed come to us to look for work and our consultants in the area go to talk to the potential employer. We record vacancies in our order book. There are currently one million vacancies in Germany, we have filled 500.000. The remaining 500.000 are not there because they are jobs that are too specialized for our target of unemployed". In Germany there are 7 million people using mini-jobs. “Half of them are women – explains Weise – these are people who work at home or who previously worked illegally. The positive aspect here is that mini-jobs give an opportunity to those who don't want to work more and that in this way he can earn up to 450 euros a month without paying taxes and without social expenses”.
But resorting to mini-jobs isn't just a way to park a slice of the population. They are also a tool to offer the long-term unemployed a way back into the labor market. “The first solution is obviously to offer those with skills a full-time job – says Weise – but sometimes it is difficult and we start with a mini-job. In this case, the State integrates 450 euros of additional money which brings the salary to the social welfare level of 850 euros. The idea is to advance the relationship between employer and employee. Starting with a mini-job is better than nothing”. Like any model, mini-jobs have upsides and downsides. “I wouldn't talk about bad aspects – says Weise – rather about problems. Such as, for example, the cases in which companies divide 1 full-time job into 4 mini-jobs thus saving on social security contributions. However, our consultants constantly monitor this phenomenon”.
How will Italy move? The reassurance of Minister Giuliano Poletti comes from the workshop: "I will try to make the labor market simpler and more efficient", he said in response to the invitation received the previous day from Peter Praet, a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, who asked Italy to focus on labor market measures. Poletti, whose speech was scheduled for the same round table that hosted Weise, Burda and Asmussen, was unable to participate in the last one due to a health problem. "Excuse me. I am very embarrassed. My back froze”, he wanted to clarify after the fuss that arose over Prime Minister Renzi's absence: “I want to avoid – he said – that misunderstandings arise. I appreciate Ambrosetti's work but I know my problem and I know that I need to seek medical help as soon as possible to get back on my feet and be efficient in the next few days".
