Comment: Schweitzer's labor market reforms point the right way

It took the new Labor Minister Alexander Schweitzer four weeks to make the labor market more flexible. He now presented a bill that his predecessor Bärbel Bas had not managed to achieve to this extent during her entire term in office. The government experience from Mainz, where Schweitzer was already labor minister and prime minister, apparently benefits him. At the state level, pragmatic solutions must be found without looking too closely at the party's sensitivities.

The results in his draft law are based on people's everyday lives. This is about the bakeries, which have long been competing with gas stations for Sunday rolls. There needs to be more flexible working hours. This also applies to public libraries. They are usually closed when citizens have time to browse in the evenings and on weekends.

Loosening protection against dismissal for top earners is certainly not difficult for a Social Democrat. Nevertheless, the proposal is tough, but correct, that employees with an annual income of more than 180,000 euros must leave a company in exchange for payment of severance pay if in doubt. Such top talent should have no problem finding a new job.