Fewer and fewer recipients of citizen's benefit are apparently managing the leap from mini-jobs to regular employment. As the newspaper Bild reported on Monday, citing figures from the federal government, a total of 102,084 mini-jobbers were placed into jobs subject to social insurance contributions in 2017. Last year, by September, there were only 50,831 - extrapolated, this would result in a figure of around 67,775 jobbers.
Integrations into full-time positions have also halved. According to the report, the significant change is also evident in the decline in the rate. In 2017, 27.1 percent of mini-job top-up recipients managed the transition to regular employment, while in 2025 up to and including September, it was only 18.6 percent.
CSU member of the Bundestag and social policy spokesperson Hülya Düber told the newspaper that when fewer people move from basic security into regular jobs, it shows that the incentives in the system are not yet right. "Too often work does not pay." The goal must be "that more work pays noticeably and the step into regular employment becomes more attractive."
AfD member of the Bundestag Jan Feser, who requested the figures, told Bild newspaper that the Federal Employment Agency is "for the most part only managing unemployment instead of effectively ending it." Mini-jobs must serve as a bridge to real employment. The Federal Employment Agency rejected the criticism. The agency pointed to the weak labor market situation.
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