Mindestlohn
Seit Inkrafttreten des Mindestlohngesetzes am 1. Januar 2015 gilt ein allgemeingültiger flächendeckender Mindestlohn in Deutschland. Lohnuntergrenzen gibt es in beinahe allen europäischen Staaten und den USA. Die Mindestlohn-Gesetze haben das Ziel, Lohn-Dumping, also die nicht verhältnismäßige Bezahlung von Arbeitnehmerinnen und Arbeitnehmern, zu verhindern.
Dieses Themendossier dokumentiert die Diskussion rund um die Einführung des flächendeckenden Mindestlohns in Deutschland und die Ergebnisse empirischer Forschung der zu flächendeckenden und branchenspezifischen Mindestlöhnen. Mit dem Filter „Autorenschaft“ können Sie auf IAB-(Mit-)Autorenschaft eingrenzen.
- Grundsätzliches zum flächendeckenden Mindestlohn
- Auswirkungen des flächendeckenden Mindestlohns auf
- Auswirkungen des flächendeckenden Mindestlohns auf Personengruppen
- Ausnahmen vom flächendeckenden Mindestlohn u.a. für
- Ausweichreaktionen auf Mindestlöhne in Deutschland
- Bundesländer
- Branchenspezifische Mindestlöhne und deren Auswirkungen auf
- Mindestlohn in anderen Ländern
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Literaturhinweis
Der Mindestlohn und seine Höhe zwischen regelbasierter Anpassung und einer „Gesamtabwägung“ (2026)
Sell, Stefan;Zitatform
Sell, Stefan (2026): Der Mindestlohn und seine Höhe zwischen regelbasierter Anpassung und einer „Gesamtabwägung“. In: Soziale Sicherheit, Jg. 74, H. 6, S. 10-16.
Abstract
"Zur Einstimmung in die Auseinandersetzung mit der Frage, wie hoch der allgemeine gesetzliche Mindestlohn sein sollte, müsste und könnte, lohnt ein kurzer Blick zurück. Die nach langer kontroverser Diskussion zum 1. Januar 2015 erfolgte Einführung des gesetzlichen Mindestlohnes (als Lohnuntergrenze für fast alle) fiel zum einen in eine arbeitsmarktlich günstige Zeit, in der die Beschäftigungszahlen stiegen und die Wirtschaft wuchs. Zum anderen aber ist die damalige Höhe von 8,50 Euro nicht als sachlogisches Analyseergebnis vom Himmel gefallen. Sie ist zu verstehen als ein relativ niedrig dimensionierter Einstieg in die Mindestlohn-Welt – zum einen aus politischen Durchsetzbarkeitsgründen, zum anderen aber auch, weil man damals sich nicht wirklich sicher war, ob und welche Arbeitsmarkteffekte der Mindestlohn haben wird." (Textauszug, IAB-Doku)
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Literaturhinweis
Minimum wage effects: adjustment through labour market dynamics and alternative work arrangements: A report for the Low Pay Commission (2025)
Albagli, Pinjas; Costa, Rui; Machin, Stephen;Zitatform
Albagli, Pinjas, Rui Costa & Stephen Machin (2025): Minimum wage effects: adjustment through labour market dynamics and alternative work arrangements. A report for the Low Pay Commission. (CEP report 49), London: Centre for Economic Performance, LSE, 96 S.
Abstract
"This report investigates the UK's 2016 National Living Wage (NLW) introduction, focusing on firm adjustment through labour market transitions and job contract amendments. The NLW boosted worker wages, and whilst there was no change in total employment, firms adjusted through changes in employment composition and by altering employment contracts. The NLW spurred increased transitions from temporary to permanent roles, reduced underemployment, and shifted workers away from non-standard arrangements like part-time roles. However, a modest rise in zero-hour contracts among exposed workers reflects the nuanced nature of these adjustments. These contract changes, and shifts in composition and transition dynamics, provide insights into ways in which employers adjustment to cost shocks induced by minimum wage increases, and how at the same time they maintain employment stability and reshape within-firm job and career structures." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Payroll Tax Reductions on Low Wages and Minimum Wage in France (2025)
Zitatform
Albertini, Julien, Arthur Poirier & Anthony Terriau (2025): Payroll Tax Reductions on Low Wages and Minimum Wage in France. (Working paper / GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne 202501), Lyon ; Saint-Étienne, 44 S.
Abstract
"Introduced in France in the 1990s to reduce the cost of low-skilled labor, payroll tax reductions on low wages were later expanded and extended to higher wages. This study evaluates the impact of the current payroll tax schedule on employment, fiscal surplus, and welfare. We develop a life-cycle matching model in which workers are heterogeneous in terms of age, education, human capital, family status, hours worked and idiosyncratic productivity, and where search effort, hiring and separations are endogenous. Accounting for interactions with the socio-fiscal system, we demonstrate that reducing payroll tax cuts for low wages would result in declines in both employment and fiscal surplus. Furthermore, we show that increasing the minimum wage would significantly reduce employment and fiscal surplus, with the magnitude of the effect depending on whether the payroll tax schedule and other socio-fiscal measures are indexed to the minimum wage. Lastly, we identify the optimal payroll tax schedule, revealing that employment, fiscal surplus, and welfare can all be improved by increasing payroll tax reductions for wages near the minimum wage while reducing them for wages exceeding twice the minimum wage." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
What Explains Differences in Minimum Wage Growth Between EU Member States? (2025)
Zitatform
Baumann, Arne (2025): What Explains Differences in Minimum Wage Growth Between EU Member States? In: Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik, Jg. 245, H. 1/2, S. 7-44. DOI:10.1515/jbnst-2023-0039
Abstract
"There are considerable differences in minimum wage growth between EU member states with national minimum wages. Potential sources for these differences are discrepancies in economic fundamentals and institutional differences in how minimum wages are adjusted. Using a novel dataset based on macroeconomic data, institutional information on minimum wage setting and data on economic policy orientation and elections, the article tests whether growth differences in the minimum wage of 21 EU member states during the time period 2000 to 2020 can be explained by a catch-up dynamic in new EU member states, by different growth models of EU member states or by differences in the actors that are responsible for the adjustment of minimum wages. The results show that across the entire sample and irrespective of actors, minimum wage growth follows consumer price inflation and wage growth most closely. Higher than average minimum wage growth rates in EU member states stem from overshooting inflation during the period of EU accession, reducing wage inequality and increasing the Kaitz index. Actors also mattered for minimum wage growth. Adjustments by social partner consensus led to higher minimum wage growth than the benchmark of indexed minimum wages, introducing a distributive element to minimum wage adjustments." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Minimum Wages, Efficiency, and Welfare (2025)
Zitatform
Berger, David, Kyle Herkenhoff & Simon Mongey (2025): Minimum Wages, Efficiency, and Welfare. In: Econometrica, Jg. 93, H. 1, S. 265-301. DOI:10.3982/ecta21466
Abstract
"Many argue that minimum wages can prevent efficiency losses from monopsony power. We assess this argument in a general equilibrium model of oligopsonistic labor markets with heterogeneous workers and firms. We decompose welfare gains into an efficiency component that captures reductions in monopsony power and a redistributive component that captures the way minimum wages shift resources across people. The minimum wage that maximizes the efficiency component of welfare lies below $8.00 and yields gains worth less than 0.2% of lifetime consumption. When we add back in Utilitarian redistributive motives, the optimal minimum wage is $11 and redistribution accounts for 102.5% of the resulting welfare gains, implying offsetting efficiency losses of −2.5%. The reason a minimum wage struggles to deliver efficiency gains is that with realistic firm productivity dispersion, a minimum wage that eliminates monopsony power at one firm causes severe rationing at another. These results hold under an EITC and progressive labor income taxes calibrated to the U.S. economy." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Using post-regularization distribution regression to measure the effects of a minimum wage on hourly wages, hours worked and monthly earnings (2025)
Zitatform
Biewen, Martin & Pascal Erhardt (2025): Using post-regularization distribution regression to measure the effects of a minimum wage on hourly wages, hours worked and monthly earnings. In: The econometrics journal. DOI:10.1093/ectj/utaf014
Abstract
"We evaluate the distributional effects of a minimum wage introduction based on a data set with a moderate sample size but a large number of potential covariates. In this context, the selection of relevant control variables at each distributional threshold is crucial to test hypotheses about the impact of the continuous treatment variable. To this end, we use the post-double selection logistic distribution regression approach proposed by Belloni et al. (2018a), which allows for uniformly valid inference about the target coefficients of our low-dimensional treatment variables across the entire outcome distribution. Our empirical results show that the minimum wage replaced hourly wages below the minimum threshold, increased monthly earnings in the lower-middle segment but not at the very bottom of the distribution, and did not significantly affect the distribution of working hours." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Durchsetzung des Mindestlohns: Zur Reform der Finanzkontrolle Schwarzarbeit (2025)
Bosch, Gerhard; Hüttenhoff, Frederic;Zitatform
Bosch, Gerhard & Frederic Hüttenhoff (2025): Durchsetzung des Mindestlohns: Zur Reform der Finanzkontrolle Schwarzarbeit. (IAQ-Report 2025-06), Duisburg, 17 S. DOI:10.17185/duepublico/83767
Abstract
"Der Bundestag hat das Personal der mit der Kontrolle des Mindestlohns beauftragten Finanzkontrolle Schwarzarbeit (FKS) im Zoll kräftig aufgestockt. Der Bundesrechnungshof und die Gewerkschaft der Polizei haben darüber hinaus wiederholt gefordert, dass sich auch die Strukturen der FKS und ihre Kontrollstrategien ändern müssten, um die in der Schwarzarbeit zunehmend professionell organisierten Formen der Kriminalität zu bekämpfen. Die FKS hat mittlerweile ein eigenes Arbeitsgebiet für die Prüfungen und Ermittlungen organisierter Form der Kriminalität geschaffen. Die bislang regionalen Prüfungen und Ermittlungen erlauben es allerdings weiterhin nicht, regionsübergreifende Täterstrukturen zu erkennen. Weitere Reformschritte sind notwendig. Dazu gehören zentrale datengestützte Risikoanalysen und eine Ressourcenbündelung mit der Zollfahndung, dem anderen Vollzugsdienst innerhalb des Zolls. Zusätzlich sollten der Opferschutz ausgebaut, das Verbandsklagerecht eingeführt und die Arbeit des Zolls durch eine fälschungssichere elektronische Arbeitszeiterfassung erleichtert werden." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)
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Literaturhinweis
Minimum Wages and Poverty: New Evidence from Dynamic Difference-in-Differences Estimates (2025)
Zitatform
Burkhauser, Richard V., Drew McNichols & Joseph J. Sabia (2025): Minimum Wages and Poverty: New Evidence from Dynamic Difference-in-Differences Estimates. In: The Review of Economics and Statistics, S. 1-53. DOI:10.1162/rest_a_01590
Abstract
"This study re-examines Dube (2019), which finds large and statistically significant poverty-reducing effects of the minimum wage. We show that his estimated elasticities are fragile and sensitive to (1) time period under study, (2) choice of macroeconomic controls, (3) limiting counterfactuals to geographically proximate states (“close controls”), which poorly match treatment states' pre-treatment poverty trends, and (4) accounting for potential bias caused by heterogeneous and dynamic treatment effects. Using data spanning nearly four decades from the March Current Population Survey and a dynamic difference-in-differences (DiD) approach, we find that a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage is associated with a (statistically insignificant) 0.17 percent increase in the probability of longer-run poverty among all persons. With 95% confidence, we can rule out long-run poverty elasticities with respect to the minimum wage of less than -0.129. Our null results persist across a variety of DiD estimation strategies, including two-way fixed effects, stacked DiD, Callaway and Sant'Anna, and synthetic DiD. We conclude that, to date, the preponderance of evidence suggests that minimum wage increases are an ineffective policy strategy for alleviating poverty." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © MIT Press Journals) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Analysepotenziale von OnlineStellenanzeigen und Methoden Maschinellen Lernens am Beispiel der Mindestlohnforschung: Hat der Mindestlohn die Nachfrage von Kompetenzen durch Arbeitgeber verändert? (2025)
Busch, Anne; Krieger, Benedikt; Krusee, Sebastian; Goluchowicz, Kerstin; Baumann, Fabienne-Agnes;Zitatform
Busch, Anne, Fabienne-Agnes Baumann, Benedikt Krieger, Kerstin Goluchowicz & Sebastian Krusee (2025): Analysepotenziale von OnlineStellenanzeigen und Methoden Maschinellen Lernens am Beispiel der Mindestlohnforschung. Hat der Mindestlohn die Nachfrage von Kompetenzen durch Arbeitgeber verändert? (iit Perspektive / Institut für Innovation und Technik 80), Berlin, 17 S. DOI:10.23776/2025_09
Abstract
"Diese iit-perspektive beleuchtet das Potenzial innovativer Datenzugänge (Online-Stellenanzeigen) und Analysemethoden (Methoden des maschinellen Lernens) für sozialwissenschaftliche Fragestellungen am Beispiel der Mindestlohnforschung. So ist es mit Online-Stellenanzeigen als Datengrundlage beispielsweise möglich zu untersuchen, inwieweit die Einführung bzw. Erhöhung des Mindestlohns die von Arbeitgebern geforderten beruflichen Kompetenzen verändert hat." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)
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Literaturhinweis
Minimum wage and employment in the U.S.: an application of Bayesian quantile kink regression (2025)
Zitatform
Chan, Marc K. & Akbar Zamanzadeh (2025): Minimum wage and employment in the U.S.: an application of Bayesian quantile kink regression. In: Econometric Reviews, Jg. 44, H. 6, S. 673-695. DOI:10.1080/07474938.2025.2451339
Abstract
"We examine whether the employment effects of minimum wage depend on unknown tipping points in the labor market. We apply a continuous threshold regression model—regression kink with unknown thresholds—to U.S. state-level panel data in 1993–2016 to estimate the tipping point and quantile employment effects. Overall, we find that the marginal effect is near-zero or mildly negative below the tipping point, and it is considerably more negative above it. The tipping occurs at 50–55% of the state’s median wage among women and 40–45% among men. Simulations of minimum wage reforms reveal nonlinear and asymmetric employment effects." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
The Heterogeneous Effects of Large and Small Minimum Wage Changes: Evidence Using a Partially Pre-Committed Analysis Plan (2025)
Zitatform
Clemens, Jeffrey & Michael Strain (2025): The Heterogeneous Effects of Large and Small Minimum Wage Changes: Evidence Using a Partially Pre-Committed Analysis Plan. In: Journal of labor economics. DOI:10.1086/736552
Abstract
"This paper advances the use of partially pre-committed analysis plans in non-experimental research settings. In a study of recent minimum wage changes, we demonstrate how analyses of longer-run impacts of policy interventions can be pre-specified as extensions to very short-run analyses. Further, our pre-analysis plan includes comparisons of the effects of large vs.small minimum wage increases, which is a theoretically motivated dimension of heterogeneity. We discuss how these use cases harness the strengths of pre-analysis planswhile mitigating their weaknesses. This project’s initial analyses explored CPS and ACS datafrom 2011 through 2015. Alongside these analyses, we pre-committed to analyses in corporating CPS and ACS data extending through 2019. Averaging across the specifications in our pre-analysis plan, we estimate that relatively large minimum wage increases reduced employment rates among individuals with low levels of experience and education by just over 2 and a half percentage points during the decade prior to the onset ofthe Covid-19 pandemic. Our estimates of the effects of relatively small minimum wage increases vary across data sets and specifications but are, on average, both economically andstatistically indistinguishable from zero. We estimate that the elasticity of employment with respect to the minimum wage is substantially more negative for large minimum wage increases than for small increases." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Divergent Paths: Differential Impacts of Minimum Wage Increases on Individuals with Disabilities (2025)
Zitatform
Clemens, Jeffrey, Melissa D. Gentry & Jonathan Meer (2025): Divergent Paths: Differential Impacts of Minimum Wage Increases on Individuals with Disabilities. (NBER working paper / National Bureau of Economic Research 33437), Cambridge, Mass, 39 S.
Abstract
"We analyze the differential effects of minimum wage increases on individuals with disabilities using data from the American Community Survey and leveraging state-level minimum wage variation during the 2010s. We find that large minimum wage increases significantly reduce employment and labor force participation for individuals of all working ages with severe disabilities. These declines are accompanied by a downward shift in the wage distribution and an increase in public assistance receipt. By contrast, we find no employment effects for all but young individuals with either non-severe disabilities or no disabilities. Our findings highlight important heterogeneities in minimum wage impacts, raising concerns about labor market policies' unintended consequences for populations on the margins of the labor force." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
The eterogeneous Effects of Large and Small Minimum Wage Changes: Evidence Using a Partially Pre-Committed Analysis Plan (2025)
Zitatform
Clemens, Jeffrey & Michael Strain (2025): The eterogeneous Effects of Large and Small Minimum Wage Changes: Evidence Using a Partially Pre-Committed Analysis Plan. In: Journal of labor economics. DOI:10.1086/736552
Abstract
"This paper advances the use of partially pre-committed analysis plans in non-experimental research settings. In a study of recent minimum wage changes, we demonstrate how analyses of longer-run impacts of policy interventions can be pre-specified as extensions to very short-run analyses. Further, our pre-analysis plan includes comparisons of the effects of large vs.small minimum wage increases, which is a theoretically motivated dimension ofheterogeneity. We discuss how these use cases harness the strengths of pre-analysis planswhile mitigating their weaknesses. This project’s initial analyses explored CPS and ACS datafrom 2011 through 2015. Alongside these analyses, we pre-committed to analysesincorporating CPS and ACS data extending through 2019. Averaging across thespecifications in our pre-analysis plan, we estimate that relatively large minimum wage increases reduced employment rates among individuals with low levels of experience andeducation by just over 2 and a half percentage points during the decade prior to the onset ofthe Covid-19 pandemic. Our estimates of the effects of relatively small minimum wage increases vary across data sets and specifications but are, on average, both economically and statistically indistinguishable from zero. We estimate that the elasticity of employment with respect to the minimum wage is substantially more negative for large minimum wage increases than for small increases." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
The Heterogeneous Effects of Large and Small Minimum Wage Changes on Hours Worked: Evidence Using a Partially Pre-Committed Analysis Plan (2025)
Zitatform
Clemens, Jeffrey & Michael R. Strain (2025): The Heterogeneous Effects of Large and Small Minimum Wage Changes on Hours Worked: Evidence Using a Partially Pre-Committed Analysis Plan. (IZA discussion paper / Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit 17913), Bonn, 69 S.
Abstract
"In a study of recent minimum wage changes (Clemens and Strain, forthcoming), we demonstrate how analyses of longer-run impacts of policy interventions can be pre-specified as extensions to very short-run analyses. This paper uses this novel methodology to study the effects of minimum wage increases on hours worked. Analyzing CPS and ACS data with the empirical specifications from our partially pre-committed analysis plan, we estimate that relatively large minimum wage increases reduced usual hours worked per week among individuals with low levels of experience and education by just under one hour per week during the decade prior to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Our estimates of the effects of relatively small minimum wage increases vary across data sets and specifications but are, on average, both economically and statistically indistinguishable from zero. We estimate that the elasticity of hours worked with respect to the minimum wage is substantially more negative for large minimum wage increases than for small increases." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Minimum Wages and Human Capital Investment: A Meta‐Regression Analysis (2025)
Zitatform
Doucouliagos, Hristos & Katarina Zigova (2025): Minimum Wages and Human Capital Investment: A Meta‐Regression Analysis. In: BJIR, S. 1-20. DOI:10.1111/bjir.12881
Abstract
"We apply meta-regression analysis to assess the effect of the minimum wage on two types of human capital, formal education enrolment and on-the-job training, using 892 reported estimates of these effects. On average, raising the minimum wage reduces enrolment in all countries assessed. The minimum wage has a somewhat moderate positive effect on training in the United States and no significant training effect elsewhere. There is no publication bias in the formal education and modest bias in the training literature. Heterogeneity among reported estimates is primarily driven by data differences, alternative specifications and measures of the relevant variables." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
The Minimum Wage in Germany: Institutional Setting and a Systematic Review of Key Findings (2025)
Zitatform
Dütsch, Matthias, Clemens Ohlert & Arne Baumann (2025): The Minimum Wage in Germany: Institutional Setting and a Systematic Review of Key Findings. In: Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik, Jg. 245, H. 1-2, S. 113-151. DOI:10.1515/jbnst-2023-0038
Abstract
"The introduction of a statutory minimum wage in Germany in 2015 aimed at improving the welfare of low-wage workers but was also accompanied by concerns about distortions in Europe’s largest economy. This paper provides a comprehensive survey of results from the evaluation of the German minimum wage by compiling recent descriptive evidence and a systematic literature review on causal effects through 2022. On 1 October 2022, the minimum wage was raised legislatively by 15 percent to 12 euros per hour, which affected approximately 5.8 million employees and 23 percent of companies. The war in Ukraine and the coronavirus pandemic hit minimum wage workers and minimum wage firms harder than the rest of the economy. The minimum wage thus far had the strongest causal effects directly after its introduction. Hourly wages increased, while working hours decreased, resulting in mixed effects on monthly wages. Overall employment fell slightly, with a decline in marginal employment in particular. Companies’ wage costs increased, and as productivity did not change, profits declined." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © De Gruyter) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Does organizational context matter? An examination of the factors influencing employees’ judgments of minimum wage increases (2025)
Zitatform
Dütsch, Matthias, Monika Senghaas, Gesine Stephan & Olaf Struck (2025): Does organizational context matter? An examination of the factors influencing employees’ judgments of minimum wage increases. In: Journal for labour market research, Jg. 59, 2025-02-10. DOI:10.1186/s12651-025-00392-3
Abstract
"This article presents novel findings on company factors that determine judgments regarding the fairness of minimum wage increases. Drawing on minimum wage and organizational justice research, we conducted a factorial survey among German employees. It seems that the internal wage structure plays a crucial role because raising only the pay of minimum wage workers and not that of other employees causes a minimum wage increase to be rated as less fair. While a hiring freeze does not negatively influence fairness judgments, layoffs do. Finally, if a minimum wage increase adversely affects a company’s economic situation, respondents assess it as less fair." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Informal Incentives and Labour Markets (2025)
Fahn, Matthias; Murooka, Takeshi;Zitatform
Fahn, Matthias & Takeshi Murooka (2025): Informal Incentives and Labour Markets. In: The Economic Journal, Jg. 135, H. 665, S. 144-179. DOI:10.1093/ej/ueae063
Abstract
"This paper investigates how labor-market tightness affects market outcomes if firms use informal, self-enforcing, agreements to motivate workers. We characterize profit-maximising equilibria and show that an increase in the supply of homogeneous workers can increase wages. Moreover, even though all workers are identical in terms of skills or productivity, profit-maximising discrimination equilibria exist. There, a group of majority workers is paid higher wages than a group of minority workers, who may even be completely excluded. Minimum wages can reduce such discrimination and increase employment. We discuss how these results relate to empirical evidence on downward wage rigidity, immigration, the gender pay gap, and credentialism." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Effekte des Mindestlohns auf Handwerksbetriebe: Eine Analyse von Bäckereien in Südniedersachsen (2025)
Felix, Töpfer; Leonie, Reher;Zitatform
Felix, Töpfer & Reher Leonie (2025): Effekte des Mindestlohns auf Handwerksbetriebe. Eine Analyse von Bäckereien in Südniedersachsen. (ifh Forschungsbericht / Volkswirtschaftliches Institut für Mittelstand & Handwerk an der Universität Göttingen 27), Göttingen, 36 S. DOI:10.47952/gro-publ-305
Abstract
"Die Einführung des gesetzlichen Mindestlohns in Deutschland im Jahr 2015 stellte ein Novum in der deutschen Arbeitsmarktpolitik dar. Ziel war der Schutz vor Lohnarmut im Niedriglohnsektor, ohne die gesamtwirtschaftliche Beschäftigung zu gefährden. Diese Arbeit untersucht auf qualitativer Grundlage die wirtschaftlichen Auswirkungen des Mindestlohns auf Handwerksbetriebe, exemplarisch analysiert am Beispiel von Bäckereien in Südniedersachsen. Das Bäckerhandwerk ist als Niedriglohnbranche in besonderer Weise vom Mindestlohn betroffen und befindet sich ohnehin seit Jahrzehnten im Strukturwandel. Sinkende Betriebszahlen und Konzentrationsprozesse, wachsende Konkurrenz durch den Lebensmitteleinzelhandel und Discounter sowie technische Rationalisierung prägen die Branche. Hinzu kommen Fachkräftemangel, gestiegene Energie- und Rohstoffpreise sowie eine abnehmende Ausbildungsbereitschaft, welche die wirtschaftliche Stabilität vieler Handwerksbäckereien zusätzlich gefährden. Anhand von sechs teilstrukturierten Interviews auf Ebene der Geschäftsführung werden konkrete betriebliche Anpassungsreaktionen identifiziert und in den bestehenden Forschungskontext eingeordnet. Dabei beschreiben die befragten Betriebe sowohl die Einführung des Mindestlohns als auch seine Erhöhungen als Belastung. Die Zielsetzung des Gesetzes wird dabei nicht grundsätzlich abgelehnt, wohl aber die fehlende Differenzierung und Umsetzung. Herausfordernd sei insbesondere die notwendige Anpassung des gesamten Lohngefüges, da Lohnabstände betriebsintern gewahrt werden müssten. Ein Stellenabbau fand in den befragten Betrieben nicht statt und wird auch künftig ausgeschlossen. Angesichts des Fachkräftemangels und der arbeitsintensiven Produktionsweise sehen die Betriebe keine Alternative zur Personalbindung. Gleichzeitig werde die Personalgewinnung schwieriger, insbesondere im Verkauf. Die Attraktivität der Arbeitsplätze leide ohnehin unter vergleichsweise unattraktiven Arbeitsbedingungen wie frühen Arbeitszeiten und anspruchsvoller körperlicher Arbeit, wodurch Lohnangleichungen zu anderen Branchen schwerer ins Gewicht fallen. Preissteigerungen der Endprodukte bilden somit die häufigste betriebliche Reaktion. In mehreren Interviews wurden außerdem sozialpolitische Fehlanreize thematisiert, die entweder zur Stundenreduzierung oder Ablehnung von Jobangeboten seitens der Arbeitnehmer führten. Die Ergebnisse verdeutlichen, dass die Auswirkungen des Mindestlohns im Handwerk vielschichtig sind. Zwar konnten keine unmittelbaren negativen Beschäftigungseffekte im Bäckereihandwerk festgestellt werden, die wirtschaftliche Belastung - insbesondere kleinerer Betriebe - ist jedoch evident. Die direkten Personalkostensteigerungen reihen sich dabei in die Vielzahl von bestehenden Herausforderungen ein und können nicht isoliert betrachtet werden. Die befragten Unternehmen fordern daher eine stärkere Berücksichtigung ihrer betrieblichen Rahmenbedingungen bei zukünftigen Regulierungen sowie Möglichkeiten zur flexibleren Anwendung der Mindestlöhne, um letztlich den Fortbestand kleinbetrieblicher Strukturen im Handwerk zu sichern." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)
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Literaturhinweis
Basic Income and the Dynamics of Employment and Human Capital in a Non-Urban Disadvantaged Setting (2025)
García, Jorge Luis; Watson, L. Reed; Warren, Patrick L.;Zitatform
García, Jorge Luis, Patrick L. Warren & L. Reed Watson (2025): Basic Income and the Dynamics of Employment and Human Capital in a Non-Urban Disadvantaged Setting. (NBER working paper / National Bureau of Economic Research 33891), Cambridge, Mass, 54 S.
Abstract
"Why and when could basic income inhibit employment? We randomize 200 dollars of basic income per month for two years within a non-urban disadvantaged sample tracked using high-frequency administrative data. The amount provided is 21% of average all-source income. In the short term (0.5 years after baseline), relative to the control group, treatment-group employment decreases by 58%, average all-source income remains constant, and health-investment rates increase. In the longer term (1.25 years after baseline), employment and health-investment rates revert to their control-group counterparts. Treatment participants receive basic income, take time off work, address health needs, and, subsequently, reintegrate into employment." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
Aspekt auswählen:
- Grundsätzliches zum flächendeckenden Mindestlohn
- Auswirkungen des flächendeckenden Mindestlohns auf
- Auswirkungen des flächendeckenden Mindestlohns auf Personengruppen
- Ausnahmen vom flächendeckenden Mindestlohn u.a. für
- Ausweichreaktionen auf Mindestlöhne in Deutschland
- Bundesländer
- Branchenspezifische Mindestlöhne und deren Auswirkungen auf
- Mindestlohn in anderen Ländern