Merz’s war on the sick note

From sick leave to part-time work, Germany’s chancellor is reviving an old debate about effort, entitlement and decline.

Dear Reader,

Learn German with Friedrich Merz and you will quickly acquire a particular vocabulary. Phrases such as „die Ärmel hochkrempeln und anpacken“ — roll up your sleeves and get stuck in — or the insistence that „Arbeit kann auch Spaß machen“: work can be fun.

Merz is convinced that a collapse in Germans’ work ethic lies at the heart of the country’s longest economic slump since the post-war boom. Listen to his speeches and, sooner or later, he will return to the same theme: German workers are no longer pulling their weight.

Over the past few weeks, the chancellor has begun turning that grievance into policy proposals.

First came a swipe at sickness leave. Reacting to figures showing that the average German employee now calls in sick for 14.8 days a year, Merz asked aloud: “Is that really necessary? That’s almost three weeks.”

A rule introduced during the pandemic, which allows employees to obtain a sick note via a phone call with their GP, was being abused by those who were simply …