Auswirkungen des gesetzlichen Mindestlohns auf den Bezug von Sozialleistungen

Abstract

"This report describes the results of the study "Effects of the statutory minimum wage on the receipt of social benefits" conducted at the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), which was commissioned as part of the statutory evaluation mandate of the Minimum Wage Commission. The study examines the effects of the general statutory minimum wage on the receipt of basic income benefits for jobseekers according to SGB II. Previous studies on the development of the number of employed benefit recipients in 2015 and the descriptive findings in this study show that the number of dependent basic income support recipients decreased only moderately after the introduction of the minimum wage in 2015. For this reason, this study focuses on the effects of the statutory minimum wage on the level of transfer benefits of basic income support recipients who remained in receipt of benefits after the introduction of the minimum wage. The empirical evaluations are based on administrative data records that were generated in the context of administrative procedures, especially for SGB II, and processed in the " Sample of Integrated Welfare Benefit Biographies (SIG)" (“Stichprobe der Integrierten Grundsicherungsbiografien (SIG)”) at the IAB. With the median hourly wages calculated in this study for the year 2014 of approx. 8.30 euros for employees subject to social insurance, benefit recipients would have been affected by the introduction of the minimum wage in the majority of cases. This applies even more clearly to marginally employed persons, for whom a median hourly wage of only 6.90 euros was calculated in 2014. The majority of employed benefit recipients work in marginal employment or are employed part-time. For the median need of the working person's household in 2014, values between 723 euros for single persons and 1,780 euros for couples with child(ren) are calculated. Without further income in the household, an hourly wage that avoids benefits is therefore mostly above 8.50 euros for these need values for various combinations of working hours and size of the households. The causal analyses illustrate a minimum-wage-related increase in individual gross monthly income in 2015 of about 5 to 6 per cent for full-time employees, 6 to 7 per cent for part-time employees and 5 to 7 per cent for marginally employed persons who remained in receipt of benefits. For 2016, higher wage effects are calculated between under 6 and 9 per cent for full-time employees, between 9 and 11 per cent for part-time employees and between 8 and 14 per cent for marginal employees. The total monthly payment entitlement decreased by 7 to 8 per cent for full-time employees, 3 to 5 per cent for part-time employees and 2 per cent for marginal employees in 2015 due to the minimum wage. This benefit-reducing effect intensified again in 2016 for all forms of employment considered. The results also suggest that, due to the minimum wage, benefits towards the costs of accommodation were also reduced to a large extent for full-time employees. For marginally employed persons, this almost exclusively affected the benefits to cover the living costs. A minimum-wage-related increase in the gross monthly income of a full-time benefit recipient by 5 per cent with an average monthly income of approx. 1,200 euros amounts to 60 euros gross per month. Assuming that no income tax is due, about 38 euros of this would be offset against the benefit entitlement per month. For part-time and marginal part-time workers, the absolute effects are even smaller. Thus, the positive effects of the minimum wage on the individual incomes of employed benefit recipients found in this study lead to the conclusion that the minimum wage and the minimum wage increases after 2016 reduced the neediness of basic income support recipients, even if it was often not possible to overcome benefit receipt." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Bruckmeier, K. & Schwarz, S. (2022): Auswirkungen des gesetzlichen Mindestlohns auf den Bezug von Sozialleistungen. (IAB-Forschungsbericht 14/2022), Nürnberg, 113 p. DOI:10.48720/IAB.FB.2214