What is the Mini-Job 603€ limit?

A Minijob is a job whose regular monthly earnings do not exceed €603 in 2026 (€7,236 a year) (geringfügig entlohnte Beschäftigung). The limit was €520 in 2023, €538 in 2024 and €556 in 2025.

#What do you pay as the employee?

• Pension insurance: a Minijob is generally subject to pension insurance. The total rate is 18.6%; in a commercial Minijob the employer pays 15% and you pay 3.6%. You can ask your employer in writing or electronically to be exempted; your share then no longer applies, while the employer's flat-rate contribution continues.
• Health, long-term care and unemployment insurance: as the employee, you pay no contributions to these from your Minijob.
• Tax: the employer often pays a flat 2% tax (Pauschsteuer).

#Your health insurance does not come from the Minijob

If you are in statutory health insurance, the employer pays a flat 13% health contribution. This is a solidarity contribution and does not give you your own health cover. You still need to keep your student health insurance (or your existing insurance status) separately and pay for it yourself.

#Is there an hours limit?

There is no statutory weekly hours limit for a Minijob; what matters is the monthly earnings limit. At the €13.90 minimum wage, €603 corresponds to about 10 hours a week; this is a calculation, not a legal limit. If you have more than one Minijob, your earnings are assessed together.

#Combined with a Werkstudent job or other income

• If you combine a Minijob with a Werkstudent job, your total working time during the lecture period can affect your Werkstudent social-insurance status.
• If you have other taxable income: the basic income-tax allowance (Grundfreibetrag) is €12,348 in 2026.

#Non-EU students (§ 16b AufenthG)

The days you work in a Minijob also count towards your annual account of 140 working days (Arbeitstagekonto); a day of up to 4 hours counts as half a day.

Source: Minijob-Zentrale · More: HiWi or Werkstudent?