Circumventing the Minimum Wage? : Freelance Employment before and after the German Minimum Wage Introduction

Abstract

"On the 1st of January 2015, the statutory minimum wage of EURO 8,50 was officially introduced for all employees in Germany. However, it does not apply to employees who are freelancers employed on the basis of contracts for work. Insofar, employing freelancers offers an applicable way to circumvent the minimum wage legislation. In this paper, we provide descriptive evidence on the development of freelance employment over the past years. Furthermore, we identify to what extent, the introduction of minimum wage has affected the operational application of freelance employment, applying a difference-in-differences approach on the basis of the IAB-Establishment Panel from 2013 to 2015. The results do not indicate that the employment of freelancers is used to circumvent the minimum wage." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Bossler, M. & Hohendanner, C. (2016): Freie Mitarbeit statt Mindestlohn? Werk- und Dienstverträge in deutschen Betrieben vor und nach Einführung des gesetzlichen Mindestlohns. In: Sozialer Fortschritt, Vol. 65, No. 8, p. 195-201. DOI:10.3790/sfo.65.8.195