On January 1, 2027, Germany’s statutory minimum wage rises from 13.90 to 14.60 euros (Minimum Wage Adjustment Ordinance) gross per hour, and the earnings limit for a mini-job (Minijob) rises with it: from 603 to 633 euros (Minijob-Zentrale) a month. For businesses looking for temporary help right now – for the holiday season in the store, for shifts in the kitchen and dining room, for Saturdays at the salon or the season at the farm shop – this means that many job ads going online now will run past the turn of the year and then carry a figure that is no longer right. “Mini-job up to 603 euros” is set too low from January, and “13.90 euros an hour” falls below the statutory minimum wage. This article shows how to state hours and the earnings limit correctly, why seasonal temporary help is not the same as an ongoing mini-job, what a fixed term and an application deadline do in the ad, and how to switch your ads over at the cutoff date without having to change everything on January 1.
What changes on January 1, 2027
The earnings limit for a mini-job is not a fixed number; it is tied to the minimum wage.
The German Social Code bases it on a working time of ten hours a week (Section 8(1a) SGB IV) at the minimum wage in force and prescribes the calculation as well: the minimum wage is multiplied by 130, divided by three and rounded up to full euros (Section 8(1a) SGB IV). For 2027, the Minijob-Zentrale, Germany’s central office for mini-jobs, shows the math: 14.60 euros × 130 / 3 = 632.67 euros, rounded up to 633 euros (Minijob-Zentrale) a month. For a mini-job held all year, the annual limit rises from 7,236 euros to 7,596 euros (Minijob-Zentrale). The Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs announces the limit in the Federal Gazette each time (Section 8(1a) SGB IV); that does not change the calculation.
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| Figure | 2026 | from January 1, 2027 | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Statutory minimum wage per hour | 13.90 euros | 14.60 euros | (Minimum Wage Adjustment Ordinance) |
| Earnings limit per month | 603 euros | 633 euros | (Minijob-Zentrale) |
| Earnings limit per year for a mini-job held all year | 7,236 euros | 7,596 euros | (Minijob-Zentrale) |
| Hours per month at the minimum wage | 43.38 | about 43 | (Minijob-Zentrale) |
| Maximum monthly pay when the limit is exceeded unforeseeably | 1,206 euros | 1,266 euros | (Minijob-Zentrale) |
The number of possible hours barely changes, because pay and limit rise in step. If you pay exactly the minimum wage, the Minijob-Zentrale puts the maximum at about 43 hours (Minijob-Zentrale) a month in 2027 as well. If you pay more, the number of hours goes down. The math is the earnings limit divided by the hourly rate: at 15.50 euros it is 633 / 15.50 = about 40.8 hours, at 16 euros about 39.6 hours a month. That is exactly the figure that belongs in the ad, because it answers the first question every applicant asks: how much time do I need to set aside, and what is left at the end of the month?
The Minijob-Zentrale’s quarterly report shows how many businesses are affected. As of June 30, 2026, 6,705,720 (Minijob-Zentrale) mini-jobbers were registered there in the commercial sector; their mini-jobs were spread across 1,820,289 (Minijob-Zentrale) employers. Of these, 1,052,877 (Minijob-Zentrale) work in trade including motor vehicle repair and 951,078 (Minijob-Zentrale) in hospitality. The increase reaches well beyond mini-jobs: the Federal Statistical Office estimates that at most 7 million jobs (Federal Statistical Office) are affected by the step to 14.60 euros. That is an upper bound based on the earnings survey of April 2025, excluding apprentices, interns and minors and without later pay raises. For the first step on January 1, 2026, the same estimate found that the increase affected 47 percent (Federal Statistical Office) of all jobs in hospitality.
Why old ads go out of date at New Year
A job ad for temporary help lives longer than you might think. It sits on the careers page, hangs as a PDF in the shop window, keeps running on job boards and social networks, and is rarely taken down once the position is filled.
What was correct in October is wrong in two places on January 1: the earnings limit has gone up, and an hourly rate of 13.90 euros is then below the statutory minimum wage (Minimum Wage Adjustment Ordinance). Anyone reading such an ad in January sees either a limit that no longer applies or an offer that may no longer be paid that way. Both cost trust before the first application is written. Typical phrases to look for before the turn of the year:
- “Mini-job on a 603-euro basis” or “up to €603” without a date – set too low from January
- “€13.90 an hour” – below the minimum wage from January 1, 2027
- “603-euro job” in the job title – the title also appears in previews and lists and is easily missed when switching over
- “Max. 43 hours a month” – still roughly right at the minimum wage, but wrong as soon as you pay more than the minimum wage
- “Plus Christmas bonus” – counts toward earnings if it is firmly promised
- “Hours by arrangement” or “flexible as needed” – invites a contract without fixed weekly hours
The last point has a concrete reason. On-call work is permitted, but the agreement must set a specific duration of weekly and daily working time. If the weekly working time is not set, the Part-Time and Fixed-Term Employment Act deems a working time of 20 hours (Section 12(1) TzBfG) to be agreed. At the 2027 minimum wage, that works out to about 1,265 euros a month, just under twice the earnings limit. An ad that promises “hours by arrangement” easily leads to exactly that kind of contract. It is better for the ad to state what the contract will say later: “6 to 9 hours a week, mostly Saturdays.”
The new minimum wage applies from the first working day of 2027
Temporary help or an ongoing mini-job?
In everyday use, “temporary help” (Aushilfe) and “mini-job” are often treated as the same thing. Under social security law, they are two different forms of marginal employment, and the ad should make clear which one is meant.
The mini-job with an earnings limit has no time limit: regular earnings may not exceed the marginal earnings threshold (Section 8(1) item 1 SGB IV), while when and how long someone works can be arranged freely. Short-term employment, by contrast, is limited in time: within a calendar year it may last no more than three months or 70 working days (Minijob-Zentrale), and the amount earned basically does not matter. If earnings exceed the threshold, however, the work must not be carried out on a professional basis (Section 8(1) item 2 SGB IV), which means it must not be the main source of income someone lives on (Minijob-Zentrale).
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| Feature | Mini-job with earnings limit (Section 8(1) item 1 SGB IV) | Short-term employment (Section 8(1) item 2 SGB IV) |
|---|---|---|
| Duration | no time limit, fixed-term or open-ended | at most three months or 70 working days per calendar year, on an agricultural business 15 weeks or 90 working days |
| Earnings | on average up to 603 euros a month, from 2027 up to 633 euros | no earnings limit; if earnings exceed the threshold, the work must not be done on a professional basis |
| Typical position | regular Saturday staff in a store, a shift in the dining room, cleaning | holiday season, harvest, inventory, trade fair |
| What the ad states | weekly hours, hourly rate, earnings limit with effective date | period from–to, number of working days, hourly rate |
| Employment type in the Job openings block | Part-time; limited to one season: Temporary | Temporary |
For the ad, this leads to a simple rule. If you are looking for someone for a year or longer who comes in for a few hours every week, do not advertise temporary help but a part-time position on a mini-job basis. That also matches the classification under labor law: anyone holding a mini-job with an earnings limit counts as part-time employed (Section 2(2) TzBfG). The word “temporary” belongs to positions that end from the outset: the weeks before Christmas, the inventory, the harvest season. In the fall there are mixed forms. A sales assistant from November 23 to January 31 can be either short-term employment or a fixed-term mini-job with an earnings limit, depending on how it is set up. In the second case it runs past the cutoff date: until December the limit is 603 euros, from January 633 euros. The employer determines which form applies at the start of employment in the social security assessment (Minijob-Zentrale). The ad does not have to anticipate that assessment, but it should not contradict it.
What belongs in a mini-job ad
A good ad for a mini-job or temporary help is short, but it leaves none of the questions open that would otherwise be asked on the phone.
The job title deserves a second look: under the General Equal Treatment Act, a position may not be advertised in breach of the ban on discrimination (Section 11 AGG), and besides gender, age is also one of the protected characteristics (Section 1 AGG). Additions such as “student helper,” “young team” or “ideal for retirees” target an age. If you want to reach school students, it is better to say when the work takes place – “Saturdays and during school vacations” – and leave the decision to the applicants. How the positions fit into the careers page as a whole is described in Careers page: finding skilled staff via your website. The following list is the minimum for a mini-job or temporary-help ad:
- Job title with (m/f/d) or gender-neutral, without any reference to age
- The form: mini-job with earnings limit, short-term temporary help or part-time – not all at once
- Weekly hours as a range that matches the contract, and the typical working times, such as Saturdays or evenings
- The hourly rate as an amount, at least 14.60 euros from January 1, 2027 (Minimum Wage Adjustment Ordinance)
- The expected monthly pay and the earnings limit with its effective date, for example “up to €633 a month from January 1, 2027” (Minijob-Zentrale)
- For fixed-term positions, the period from–to; for short-term positions also the number of working days
- The start date and, where there is one, an application deadline
- Bonuses such as a Christmas bonus only if they fit within the annual limit
- How to apply, with a contact person: form, email or phone
Sales assistant (m/f/d) – mini-job, part-time, open-ended
When: Saturdays 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., occasionally weekdays as cover
Hours: 6 hours a week
Hourly rate: €15.00 gross
Pay: about €390 a month
Type: mini-job with earnings limit
(€603 until December 2026, €633 from January 2027)
Start: December 1, 2026
Apply: via the form on this page or by email,
by November 20, 2026Stating the earnings limit correctly
For most applicants, the earnings limit is a classification, not a salary. It says: this stays a mini-job.
What someone actually earns follows from hours and hourly rate, so both belong in the ad, with the limit and its date next to them. “Up to €633” without a date is not yet true in November, and “up to €603” is no longer true in January. The transitional wording “up to €603 a month, from January 1, 2027 up to €633” is correct on every day the ad runs. The monthly limit is an average: what matters is that annual earnings do not exceed the annual limit, which from 2027 is 7,596 euros (Minijob-Zentrale). Besides regular pay, earnings also include Christmas bonuses, vacation pay, premiums or other additional payments if they are to be expected regularly or with sufficient certainty (Minijob-Zentrale). If the ad promises a fixed Christmas bonus under “What we offer,” include it in the annual limit from the start. The table shows how many monthly hours at the 2027 minimum wage fit under the limit:
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| Hours per month | Pay at 14.60 euros (Minimum Wage Adjustment Ordinance) | Limit of 633 euros (Minijob-Zentrale) |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | 292.00 euros | within |
| 30 | 438.00 euros | within |
| 40 | 584.00 euros | within |
| 43 | 627.80 euros | within |
| 44 | 642.40 euros | exceeded |
There is an exception for months with a particularly heavy workload, and it is often misunderstood. An unforeseeable overrun of the limit does not end the mini-job if it occurs in no more than two calendar months within a twelve-month period (Section 8(1b) SGB IV). Earnings in those months may reach at most twice the monthly limit, which from 2027 means 1,266 euros (Minijob-Zentrale). The Minijob-Zentrale cites covering for a sick colleague as an example. Extra work that is already certain when the ad is written, on the other hand, is not unforeseeable. If you regularly need more shifts in December, plan them into the annual limit or look for additional short-term help for those weeks.
Fixed term, period and application deadline
Temporary help for the holiday season is usually hired on a fixed-term basis. The fixed term itself is not in the ad but in the contract, and there it must be in writing to be valid (Section 14(4) TzBfG).
Without an objective reason, a calendar-based fixed term of up to two years (Section 14(2) TzBfG) is permitted, but not if there has previously been a fixed-term or open-ended employment relationship with the same employer. For the helper who comes back every year, an objective reason is therefore usually needed, such as a business need that exists only temporarily (Section 14(1) TzBfG). The ad names the period for which you are hiring and promises nothing the contract will not deliver later, such as a “permanent position” that is not planned at all.
For seasonal jobs, the application deadline is not a formality. An ad for December that is still online in February tells visitors the site is not maintained, and it brings in applications for a position that no longer exists. Every one of those applications needs an answer and has to be deleted once the retention periods expire; how to handle that properly is covered in Accepting job applications online. Two dates spare you both: the date until which applications are welcome and the date on which the ad goes offline. For holiday-season help, the deadline sensibly falls before the first working day, so that training and the shift schedule still work out.
Switching the ad over at the cutoff date
The simplest ad is one that already contains the cutoff date.
With the transitional wording and an hourly rate of at least 14.60 euros (Minimum Wage Adjustment Ordinance) from January, nobody has to change anything on January 1. If you prefer to show only the value currently in force, schedule the change as a fixed appointment: prepare the new version before the holidays and publish it on the first working day of the year. If you are adjusting prices on the same date, the approach is described in Communicating a price increase at the turn of the year, where the minimum wage is one of the cost drivers. The schedule for the ads:
- Collect every place where “603,” “13.90” or “mini-job” appears: careers page, home page, PDF notices, job boards, social media posts.
- For each position, note whether it is an ongoing mini-job or fixed-term temporary help, and choose the title accordingly.
- Check hours against the hourly rate: monthly hours times the hourly rate from January may not exceed 633 euros (Minijob-Zentrale) on average.
- Check not only the ads but also current contracts: the new minimum wage also applies to everyone who already works for you and is covered by the Minimum Wage Act.
- Switch the pay in all ads to the transitional wording or to the 2027 values.
- Give seasonal positions an application deadline and an end date, and remove them after the season.
- Name a person who takes care of the date, with their own login to the website; how logins stay secure in a team is covered in Website account in daily business.
The cutoff date is also a good moment to look at time records. For marginally employed staff – mini-jobs and short-term help, except in private households – the Minimum Wage Act requires employers to record the start, end and duration of daily working time by the end of the seventh calendar day (Section 17(1) MiLoG) after the working day and to keep the records for at least two years (Section 17(1) MiLoG). The same records show how close a mini-job is to the annual limit once the hourly rate rises in January – and they are what keeps an ad that says “6 to 9 hours a week” honest.
How the ad looks in XICflow
For open positions, XICflow has the Job openings block, listed in the overview of blocks.
Each position in it has its own fields, including job title, employment type, work location, short description, compensation, start date, “Published” and “Valid until,” plus the application route via a form or by email. The date fields are empty for a new position, and the compensation field is meant for details your business provides itself. Why concrete pay belongs in the ad is explained in Starting pay in job ads; how a site comes together with XICflow is shown under How it works. For the switch at the turn of the year, four fields matter:
Employment type
A choice of full-time, part-time, apprenticeship, temporary, internship and freelance. An ongoing mini-job is part-time; help for the holiday season is temporary. The selected type is visible on the job card.
Compensation
A free-text field for what you pay, such as “€15.00 an hour, up to €603 a month, from January 1, 2027 up to €633.” XICflow does not convert anything; the text appears exactly as you enter it, labeled “Compensation” on the job card.
Published
The day the position went online, in the format YYYY-MM-DD. It is not shown on the job card. For a correction such as the new earnings limit, leave the date as it is; a newly advertised position gets a new one.
Valid until
The last day of the posting, in other words your application deadline, also in the format YYYY-MM-DD and optional. It belongs in every seasonal position. The job card does not show this date either; for applicants to see it, also put it in the short description.
What XICflow does not do
Sources and studies