Working conditions in Germany: DGB report reveals challenges for people with a migrant background

How do employees rate their own working conditions? The DGB has been collecting this information annually since 2007 in its “Index for Good Work.” Based on this data, a separate report has now been compiled that focuses on the working conditions of the approximately 12 million people with a migrant background in Germany.

Compared to non-migrant employees, the report shows that so-called “unskilled work,” insecure conditions, precarious working hours, and low incomes are above average for people with a migrant background. Around one-third of them work in unskilled and semi-skilled jobs (“unskilled work”), compared to only 18% in the comparison group without a migrant background. Furthermore, the proportion of temporary and shift work is significantly higher, at 6% for temporary work and 21% for shift work. In addition, migrant workers are more likely to be in temporary employment relationships, with around 17% affected. This also leads to widespread concerns about their own professional future among 23% of those surveyed. In addition, more than 40% do not earn enough to live on, or only just enough.

Atypical or precarious working conditions are not the same for all subgroups of migrant workers: those most affected are first-generation immigrants from countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA). In its division into four subgroups, the DGB distinguishes between “immigrated themselves” or “parents immigrated” and origin from within or outside the EEA.

Given these results, it is also conceivable that the reality is once again different: only people who have a telephone connection with a German area code and sufficient German language skills were surveyed. The DGB itself also addresses the fact that certain sections of immigrants in Germany were not or hardly represented, and suspects that the study still underestimates the prevalence of precarious working conditions.

We were also interested in the following topics:

• EU labor law: With the re-election of Ursula von der Leyen as EU Commission President, the formation of the new Commission has begun. The Hans Böckler Foundation has compiled a to-do list of what the Commission should address in its new legislative period from a labor law perspective.

• Starting a business: Almost half of all young people can imagine starting their own business, with only a quarter categorically ruling it out. These are the findings of a study by the Bertelsmann Foundation on young entrepreneurs, which surveyed 14- to 25-year-olds.

• Parental leave: Parental allowance was first introduced more than ten years ago and resulted in longer periods of parental leave. A new study now shows that companies can cushion the resulting gaps in employment in the long term. Der Spiegel has the details.

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