PdF on work and social affairs

The PdF wants to make understaffed occupations more attractive through higher pay and better working conditions, and to subsidize more training places. According to the platform, the background is that baby boomers will retire by 2035 and the working-age population will shrink.

Many jobs lack skilled workers, for example in nursing care. The PdF wants better pay and working conditions there. The government should fund more training places. A master craftsman title should count as much as a master's degree. The government should also support further training.

The platform says nursing care, skilled trades, construction, IT and childcare are hit hardest. In care and childcare, pay would rise in a targeted way and work-life balance would improve. Vocational trade qualifications would be put on an equal footing with academic degrees. Retraining and upskilling would get financial and tax support. Schools would offer early courses built around children's strengths, and there would be programs for lifelong learning.

The PdF wants to make it easier for older people to keep working after reaching retirement age. This is meant to ease the skills shortage in the short term.

Some people want to keep working at retirement age. The PdF wants to make that easier. For example, they should get tax advantages. This should reduce the shortage of skilled workers.

The platform names flexible work models, tax relief and less red tape as the tools. Experienced employees should stay in working life longer as a result. The party sees this as a short-term measure against the shortage of skilled workers.

The PdF wants moderate minimum wage increases tied to economic performance, reaching 15 euros step by step in the long run. Small businesses are to get relief so they are not overburdened.

The PdF wants to raise the minimum wage slowly. In the long run it should be 15 euros. The increases should fit the state of the economy. Small businesses should get help.

The platform cites 12.82 euros from 2025 as the starting point. Increases should follow productivity and the business cycle and give both sides planning certainty. Small companies are to receive tax breaks or subsidies. The party also wants to examine regionally graded minimum wages that reflect differences in the cost of living.

The PdF wants job seekers and vacancies to find each other more easily. It plans a state-funded digital job portal, incentives to move to regions short of skilled workers, and coordinated training programs.

Job seekers and open jobs often do not match. The PdF wants to fund a digital job portal. People who move for a job should get money and benefits. Schools and companies should develop fitting courses.

The portal would use artificial intelligence to match applicant profiles with offers and make the market more transparent. For mobility, the platform proposes relocation allowances, tax advantages and subsidized housing. Infrastructure projects are meant to make regions with shortages more attractive. Training programs are to be designed with schools, universities and vocational institutions around what the economy needs.

The PdF wants a legal entitlement to work from home wherever the job allows it. In addition, state-funded pilot projects are to test the four-day week at full pay, and flexible working-time models are to be promoted.

The PdF wants a right to work from home. This applies only if the job allows it. Companies should be able to test the four-day week. The state should support these tests. Working hours should become more flexible.

For remote work, the platform calls for clear rules on cost reimbursement, technical equipment and recording working hours. The four-day week at full pay is first to be tested for feasibility in trial phases, especially in high-strain industries. The trials would examine effects on productivity, satisfaction and company culture. Working-time accounts and individual arrangements are to be made easier, particularly for parents and caregivers.

The PdF wants to greatly simplify applications for Grundsicherung (basic income support) and other benefits and to raise the exempt allowances in basic income support. A fund would ease the burden on single women, who the platform says are hit especially often by old-age poverty.

Many older people are poor. Some do not apply for help because the forms are hard. The PdF wants to make the forms easier. Older people should be allowed to keep more of their own money. There should be a special fund for single women.

The platform notes that in some regions 40 to 60 percent of those entitled do not claim basic income support, often out of shame or because of complicated procedures. Automated eligibility checks would lower barriers and speed up processing. Easily accessible advice in social facilities would help seniors with applications and inform them about their rights. Higher allowances are meant to make people more willing to claim benefits. New support programs would also relieve older people facing rising living costs.

The PdF wants day centers and meeting places for older people in every neighborhood and support for volunteer visiting services. The platform points to the growing number of seniors living alone who are affected by loneliness.

Many older people live alone and feel lonely. The PdF wants meeting places for them in every neighborhood. Ride services should bring people there. Volunteer visitors should get money and training. Simple apps should help people stay in touch.

New day centers and meeting places would offer easily accessible opportunities for shared activities. Mobile services would help people with limited mobility get there. Local initiatives such as visiting services would receive funding, and volunteers would be trained to accompany seniors. In addition, senior-friendly apps would be developed so older people can organize leisure activities and meetups and find new contacts through virtual networks.

The PdF wants to ease the financial burden on young people with a youth allowance against higher prices and with investment in social housing and dormitories. It is responding to young people's worries about inflation, expensive rents and old-age poverty.

Many young people worry about money. The PdF wants to pay them an allowance because prices are rising. The state should build cheap apartments and dorms for young people. Pensions should also change so young people are not poor later.

The platform cites survey figures: 65 percent of young people worry about their finances because of inflation, 54 percent find housing too expensive and 48 percent fear poverty in old age. A youth allowance would offset the extra costs caused by rising prices. Investment in social housing and dormitories specifically for young people would create affordable places to live and enable independence. To address fears of old-age poverty, the PdF points to its proposals for pension reform.