10,171 euros back payment for civil servants: "I'm a bit ashamed"
Created: 2022-12-21 04:52
By: Max Mueller
Due to the increased prices, civil servants are currently receiving up to five-digit additional payments.
Is that fair?
A teacher gives information incognito.
Cologne – Michael Mayer really doesn't know what to do with the money he's getting now.
Mayer can look forward to an additional payment of 4,549.16 euros - since December 1 he has been receiving 413.56 euros more per month.
"I understand the reasons, the timing is at most unfavorable," says Mayer on the phone.
That's why he doesn't want to appear in this text with his real name.
Officials get more money: "The timing is at most unfavorable," says one who benefits from it.
(symbol image) © PantherMedia/Imago (montage)
Like 1.7 million civil servants, Mayer will receive a wage increase.
The more expensive the place of residence in which a civil servant lives and the more children he has, the greater the plus.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, where Mayer teaches at a high school, it is up to 10,170 euros retrospectively.
The adjustment became necessary due to a decision by the Federal Constitutional Court in 2020, according to which the remuneration should be adjusted to the price development.
Officials get more money: 60 percent think the increase is wrong
This development comes at a time when inflation in Germany is rushing from record to record – according to the Federal Statistical Office, inflation was ten percent in November.
Many people inevitably ask themselves the question: Isn't that too much of a good thing?
60 percent say: Yes, the increase goes too far.
This is the result of a study commissioned by the “Bild” newspaper.
The basic idea behind the increase is as simple as it is understandable: It should be ensured that government employees can continue to afford rising rents.
There must be a 15 percent difference between basic security and civil servants' pay at the lowest level.
Mayer has been living in a cooperative apartment for years, which costs 1,200 euros warm.
In April his wife starts working again.
His family doesn't need the money to maintain his standard of living, but many colleagues do.
Still, he's a little ashamed.
"It would be wrong to point the finger at officials now," says Mayer.
"The whole cause shows much more: The state takes care of its employees, while people are exploited in the free economy." Is that why everyone wants to be in government service now?
Privileges of civil servants: 600 euros more net - because they don't pay social security contributions
Enzo Weber is skeptical.
"The additional payment has no direct impact on the labor market, because only those who are already in the job benefit," says the labor market expert to the
Munich
newspaper IPPEN.MEDIA.
He is a professor at the Institute for Labor Market and Vocational Research – and is not a civil servant himself.
"Among professors, I'm the exception," he says.
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However, the increase in itself will influence the career choices of young people.
"Becoming a civil servant teacher has now become more attractive," says Weber.
A sample calculation shows how much it pays to be employed as a civil servant.
In Mayer's salary group A13, a civil servant with a gross monthly salary of EUR 4,692 is allowed to keep a total of EUR 3,604.
If he were employed, only 2,917 euros would remain.
Civil servants do not have to pay any social security contributions, which means that there are no pension, unemployment, health and long-term care insurance.
The result: more net than gross.
Enzo Weber is an economist at the Institute for Labor Market and Vocational Research.
© Michael Bode
However, civil servants must take care of their own health insurance.
For Mayer, this means: 433 euros go away again a month, in the end he has around 3,100 euros.
That's enough for Mayer at the moment, but it also has disadvantages - for example the feeling of being at the mercy of others.
“The state can deal with me as it wants.
In concrete terms, this means: I can be transferred, as a teacher with civil servant status I can't just work in another federal state and I'm not allowed to go on strike," says Mayer.
Downsides of civil servants: No right to strike, arbitrariness of the state
What also rankles him: Mayer would like to do something else after work.
The state doesn't like that at all.
Earning extra money is very heavily regulated.
“I heard about a case where someone worked as a part-time writer.
She settled it with her husband because she regularly exceeded the strict exemption limits.” Luxury problems?
"It's a golden cage," says Mayer.
"But it's a cage."
However, Mayer's non-official colleagues are much harder hit.
They do the same work, bear the same responsibility - and still have a lot less money in their pockets.
"My colleagues who are not civil servants earn an average of 1,000 euros less," says Mayer.
About IPPEN.MEDIA:
The IPPEN.MEDIA network is one of the largest online publishers in Germany.
At the locations in Berlin, Hamburg/Bremen, Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne, Stuttgart and Vienna, journalists from our central editorial office research and publish for more than 50 news offers.
These include brands such as Münchner Merkur, Frankfurter Rundschau and BuzzFeed Germany.
Our news, interviews, analyzes and comments reach more than 5 million people in Germany every day.
Under the aspect of "attractiveness on the labor market" Weber excludes civil servant status.
The reason: There are simply too few civil servants to increase the pressure on the rest of the economy.
Weber also finds the demand that teachers should be deprived of their civil servant status, as recently demanded by CDU deputy leader Carsten Linnemann, absurd.
“If I no longer have teachers on civil servants, then I would have to adjust the gross salaries upwards.
Or the shortage of teachers will become much worse,” he says.
Labor market in transition: Highest shortage of skilled workers since the economic miracle
Shortage and labor market - that meant for a long time: There are not enough jobs.
“I don't envy friends of mine who work in 'normal' jobs.
I keep hearing these typical 'hire and fire Silicon Valley stories' and then I'm very glad that I don't have these problems," says Mayer.
"I really hope that working conditions will improve overall."
Labor market expert Weber is convinced of this: “Times have gotten better for employees.
We have the greatest labor shortage since the economic miracle.” That's why employers are increasingly trying to keep employees.
The so-called access risk in unemployment is currently 0.51 percent - and is therefore lower than ever.
"The value means the proportion of employees subject to social security contributions who lose their job and become unemployed in one month," says Weber.
Employees who immediately find subsequent employment are excluded.
Should the state also employ civil servants in other sectors?
However, one point is still very important to Weber.
The situation on the job market is not just pure pleasure for everyone.
“We are currently observing large real income losses.
And we still have a large low-wage segment,” he says.
But a lot is also happening in these areas: bakeries can no longer open on Sundays because there is a lack of staff.
Heat pumps are not installed because no craftsman has time.
And in the care sector, there is a lack of every nook and cranny.
This weakens the infrastructure as a whole.
However, no civil servants work in these areas.
Article 33, paragraph 4 of the Basic Law regulates civil service.
In this way, state officials are given the power to exercise “sovereign powers”.
In plain language, this means that civil servants should take on tasks that the state considers extremely important.
In order for the state to always remain capable of acting, officials must be extremely loyal.
Which activities should be carried out by civil servants - that is controversial.
"There are some areas where it would be more urgent - for example in medical care," says Mayer.
"Teachers don't have to be civil servants, even if I'm in the minority with this opinion in the college."
