Low-Wage Employment in Germany: Opportunity or Risk

Moreover, the low-wage sector plays an important role in the integration into the labour market of those previously inactive. Using propensity score matching, it can be shown that those who are unemployed or inactive but willing to work can significantly increase their chances in the labour market by taking up low-wage employment. The data show that after five years the low-wage workers had spent about five months less in unemployment than a control group who had not taken up low-paid jobs. Income prospects also improve significantly: five years after entering the low-wage sector, the workers earned 12,000 euros more than the control group. The challenge is therefore not to limit the low-wage sector by means of legislation but to improve the opportunities for the lower-paid to move up into higher wage segments.