At the start of the German unification process it was a commonly held view that east German living conditions will converge to west Geman levels within a few years. This view was not only held by notoriously optimistic politicians but also by a great many of professional economists. With hindsight, this optimism turned out as unfounded. Although living standards have improved substantially for the ...
Die sog. Minijob-Reform, die als Teil des Zweiten Gesetzes für moderne Dienstleistungen am Arbeitsmarkt („Hartz II“) am 1. April 2003 in Kraft trat, soll die Arbeitsanreize im Bereich geringer Erwerbseinkommen verbessern und damit die strukturelle Arbeitslosigkeit reduzieren. Dazu wurde die bisherige Beschränkung der wöchentlichen Arbeitszeit auf maximal 15 Stunden aufgehoben und die Geringfügigkeitsgrenze ...
The so-called 'Minijob-reform', that was introduced in April 2003 as part of the 'Hartz II'-reform, was intended to increase work incentives for people with low wages and thereby reduce structural unemployment. Therefore, the hours restriction of 15 hours per week was abolished and the threshold up to which earnings remain free of social security contributions (SSC) was increased. ...