Overview
- Fahimi, in a Tuesday interview with Tagesspiegel, said Germany already works enough and called SPD leader Lars Klingbeil’s appeal for more work and fewer early exits wrong.
- She pointed to 120,000 industrial job losses in 2025 and ongoing short‑time work as evidence that job openings, not worker effort, are the constraint.
- She said full‑time staff in Germany do not work less than peers in other EU countries and argued high part‑time rates have boosted women’s employment.
- She argued longer careers are already possible, yet many unemployed over 55 struggle to land good jobs, and she credited labor‑market policy—not the higher legal retirement age—with raising older workers’ participation.
- Following Tuesday’s remarks, CDU business wing chief Gitta Connemann defended Klingbeil’s stance by citing unfilled jobs and an aging workforce, as employer leaders also pressed for more hours and social‑state reforms.