Work & employment
Werkstudentenprivileg
The Werkstudentenprivileg is a social-security exemption for enrolled students working up to 20 hours per week during lectures. They pay only pension insurance (9.3% employee share in 2026) instead of full contributions, raising net pay by roughly 10% compared with regular employees.
The Werkstudentenprivileg (working student privilege) exempts enrolled students from employee contributions to health, nursing, and unemployment insurance, provided their studies remain their main occupation. In practice that means respecting the 20-hour weekly limit during the lecture period. The only social-security deduction left is pension insurance at the 9.3% employee share in 2026.
The privilege applies to the employment relationship, not to a specific employer, and there is no income cap. A working student earning €2,500 per month keeps the exemption as long as the hour limits hold. Health insurance still has to exist separately: working students remain in student health insurance and pay their own premium directly to their Krankenkasse.
What it means for working students
The privilege is the financial reason a Werkstudent contract beats most alternatives: on a typical €1,300 monthly salary you save roughly €150 per month in contributions compared with regular part-time employment. You lose it the moment you exceed 20 weekly hours during lectures, finish your studies, or exceed the 25th subject-related semester. Internships have their own rules: mandatory internships (Pflichtpraktika) are fully exempt from contributions regardless of hours.