"Basic income" – working is still worthwhile

Since the basic income has risen faster than wages, it is no longer worth working. These and similar claims are repeatedly made about basic income support. Most recently, the CDU/CSU election manifesto stated: “The so-called ‘citizen's income’ reduces the incentive to take up work.” In an article published by the Hans Böckler Foundation, researcher Johannes Steffen refutes this thesis.

According to Steffen, it is important to compare the right figures. For a fair comparison between citizen's income and wages, it is particularly important to consider low wages, taking the minimum wage into account. From 2021 to 2025, citizen's income rose by 26.2% in nominal terms, while the minimum wage rose by 34.9%. Low wages thus rose more sharply than citizen's income. In addition, it is important to note distortions in comparisons that arise when multi-person households receiving citizen's income are compared with single earners on low wages without taking into account that benefits such as child allowance are credited against citizen's income, while those in employment receive them in addition.

A fair comparison thus makes it clear that work continues to pay off. Steffen's sample calculation shows that a single-person household with a full-time job at minimum wage has €555 more disposable income per month than the same household receiving citizen's income. In addition, earned income allowances enable citizens' income recipients to earn a little extra and thus generate more income than people without employment.

We were also interested in these topics:

• Working hours & performance: Google co-founder Brin calls for “60 hours as the sweet spot of productivity” in terms of weekly working hours. However, experts warn of the health and performance-limiting consequences of excessive working hours. Instead, satisfaction and flexibility would promote productivity in the long term, as reported by WirtschaftsWoche.

• Digitalization: 77% of companies rate their level of digitalization positively, but obstacles such as high costs, complexity, legal uncertainties, and slow network expansion would make digital transformation difficult. This is the result of the 2025 digitalization survey conducted by the DIHK.

• Sick leave: Sick leave in Germany remains high, with an average of 23.9 days of absence per insured person in 2024, according to an evaluation by the AOK. Particularly protracted cases of musculoskeletal and mental illness contribute to the high number of absences. Respiratory diseases were the most common reason for sick leave, but led to shorter absences, reports Tagesschau.

Are you passionate about politics and want to be at the heart of it? Our networking and career fair, CHECKPOINT Political Consulting, will take place on May 22, 2025, in Berlin! Take a look behind the scenes of the political world and get to know renowned consultancies such as 365 Sherpas, ADVERB, Brunswick, Fink & Fuchs, FTI Consulting, and Miller & Meier Consulting. For more information, visit ckpt.org.

This text first appeared as an editorial in the weekly politjobs newsletter. If you would like to receive this newsletter with the latest jobs in politics directly by email every Wednesday, you can subscribe to it here.

Spread the word: Do you have friends or acquaintances who are also interested in political jobs? Feel free to forward the registration form for our newsletter.