Ms. Nahles, when was the last time you didn’t get a handyman, no food in the restaurant or no luggage at the airport because there were no staff?
I am the daughter of a master mason with many contacts in the village. Some of the boys and girls I went to secondary school with now have their own workshops. So I’m privileged on this subject. I’ve experienced everything else. Recently, in a Bavarian hotel, I was offered a tankard of beer if I didn’t have room service. This shows, of course, that the problem really does come up everywhere.
We’ve been talking about demographics for decades, why is everyone so surprised now?
Theoretical debates are different from those experienced in practice. In addition, the population trend over the past two decades has been more positive than predicted. Anyone who shouts the alarm for too long will eventually not be heard.
But now the young are using their market power as a scarce labor force to further reduce their own working hours. Does the call for more free time and work-life balance exacerbate the problem?
I’m the wrong contact person. First of all: We are the agency for work, not for leisure. Some demands irritate me, also because I was brought up differently. I’m really a working person. For example, I looked at Sara Weber’s book: “The world is ending and I still have to work?” At first I thought: What’s that supposed to mean? But then she is also concerned with good working conditions in the digitized working world, with appropriate pay and clear rules. In other words, topics that I have been dealing with for 30 years. Nevertheless, work will also be necessary in the new world.
The sociologist Heinz Bude recently advocated an obligation to work. Don’t want to go that far?
We are still a free country and we should remain so. It’s about convincing. Work not only secures your livelihood, it also gives life meaning – not only through the task itself, but also through the colleagues who can offer a social anchor for life. If you run out of reasons to work, feel free to ask me.
Some complain about bullshit jobs: products and services that nobody claims to need.
Who decides what is not needed? I don’t want to sit on such a high horse. I refuse to categorize work according to value, like servants and masters used to.
Does the new basic income also weaken the incentive to work?
No. Rather, we now have better tools to get people into sustainable work. Two thirds of the long-term unemployed have no professional qualifications, so it pays to gain qualifications. However, companies should also give people a chance who cannot initially meet all of their requirements.
From the bakery to the hotline, more and more people are coming across people who are clearly still struggling with their job. Do you like that?
I think it’s good that many people get a chance today who would have fallen through the cracks in the past. Companies are now making compromises more often because the ideal candidate for a job often no longer exists. It may be exhausting at first, but in the end it’s a win-win situation for both of you.
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