Former SPD chairman Sigmar Gabriel believes it is necessary to extend weekly working hours in Germany.
"Wouldn't we rather let people earn more again by working a little longer?" Gabriel told the "Bild am Sonntag". Industry President Siegfried Russwurm, who advocated a 42-hour week, "rightly pointed out that the reduction in working hours more than 25 years ago was justified by rising unemployment at the time," added Gabriel "Today we have the exact opposite problem: we lack people for work because the baby boomers retire and then the pill pops up."
Gabriel sees Germany facing at least a decade of hard efforts: "We will not be able to avoid massive efforts in the next few years, otherwise we will leave our children nothing but a huge mountain of debt," said the former Federal Minister of Economics.
"The vast majority of people in our country are quite ready to get down to business, but they need more certainty that it's more worthwhile again." percent society" - 75 percent punctuality of the train, 75 percent vaccination rate, 75 percent working hours and sometimes even only 75 percent teaching at schools. But we compete with societies that want to do 150 percent.
At the same time, Gabriel called for relief for the working middle class instead of new social subsidies: "I fear that small-scale social programs will not offer a sustainable answer.
At the end of the day, our democracies are always about whether we keep the promise that performance and effort pay off - for everyone and not just for those who are already doing well."
It is always honorable when politicians think about how those who have little or no chance on the job market can lead a decent life, said the current chairman of the Atlantic Bridge.
"The problem is that we must now do something for those who work hard in this country every day and who, with their daily performance, create the conditions for our country to remain economically successful, socially secure and ecologically committed.
However, it is precisely this part of our population that usually only gets medium or often too low incomes.”