Job Type Part-Time Jobs (2024)

Yes, it is possible to find jobs in Germany that don’t require you to speak German. This is especially true for full-time digital jobs in tech companies and start-ups in major German cities like Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Düsseldorf. It’s less true for simple part-time jobs that don’t require any special skills.

One of the things that makes finding an English-speaking job in Germany so tricky is the job search, which is usually time-consuming and tedious. If you search for “English jobs” on a regular job portal, many of the results require you to be proficient in English as well as German.

It’s much easier to find English part-time jobs in the Zenjob app. Here, your job matches are always based on your preferences. If you indicate that you don’t speak German, you will only find part-time jobs that don’t require any German skills. This makes it much faster and less frustrating to find English part-time jobs in Germany.

The statutory minimum wage in Germany is €12 gross per hour (as of 2023). The average wage in most part-time jobs at Zenjob is even higher.

If you have a mini-job with an earnings limit (520€-Minijob), you may not earn more than €520 per month for it to remain tax-free.

Short-term jobs, like the ones we offer at Zenjob, have no earnings limit.

It depends on the type of employment. The part-time jobs at Zenjob are subject to wage tax (Lohnsteuer), as they are carried out within the framework of short-term employment (kurzfristige Beschäftigung).

Please note that it is often worthwhile to file a tax return at the end of the year, as the final tax burden only becomes clear when all other taxable income is considered. It is always possible that you have paid too much income tax over the course of a year. This can happen, for example, if your total income for the year (main income and additional income added together) is below the basic annual tax-free allowance (Grundfreibetrag). In Germany, the basic annual tax-free allowance for single persons is €10,347 per year.

If you work in a €520 mini-job (which you will NOT find at Zenjob), your earnings are usually taxed with a flat-rate tax of 2% of your earnings and covered by your employer.

In general, everyone has the right to take on a part-time job in addition to their main job, as long as they follow certain rules.

1. Your main job always has priority. If your part-time job has a negative impact on your main job, your workplace can prohibit you from doing it.
2. You must respect the general non-competition clause and any specific clauses in your employment contract. This means that you are not allowed to have a side job with a competitor.
3. You must always adhere to the maximum working hours of 8 hours per working day as stipulated in the Working Hours Act (Arbeitszeitgesetz). The law assumes a six-day week, which results in a maximum working time of 48 hours per week. Temporarily, 60 hours per week are possible if you compensate for this excess in such a way that your average weekly working time does not exceed 8 hours per working day within 6 months (or 24 weeks).
4. You must observe the legal rest period specified in the Working Hours Act. Between the end of your working day and the beginning of your working day, you must observe a statutory rest period of 11 hours. In other words: if you start your working day at 08:00 am, you must finish all work activities by 09:00 pm at the latest.

Please note that you can only register at Zenjob if you are studying full-time at an officially recognized university.

That depends not only on when you work but also where. Despite the minimum wage, there are small regional differences in hourly wages throughout Germany. Nuremberg, for example, is one of the most lucrative cities for part-time jobs.

The time of the shift also matters. On Sundays, you could get paid extra and night shifts often have a higher hourly wage than day shifts.

Another factor is the place of work. As a bartender in an exclusive hotel or restaurant, the hourly wage may be higher than in a small establishment.

At Zenjob, additional qualifications can also affect your wage. If you have a driving licence, for example, you may find jobs with a higher hourly wage.