Reduced earning capacity pension: three hours and six hours decide it

Last checked against the official sources: 29 August 2026

German law does not measure incapacity by diagnosis but by hours: how many hours a day you could work under the usual conditions of the general labour market. Two numbers govern the whole file — three hours and six hours. Between them sits a strict contribution condition that ends many applications before the medical question is even reached.

Hours, not diagnosis

This is where most applicants misjudge the test. The law does not ask “what illness do you have?” but “how many hours can you work?”. Illness or disability is the cause, but the yardstick is hours.

Full reduction: a person who — because of illness or disability, and for an unforeseeable period — is unable to work at least three hours a day under the usual conditions of the general labour market.

Partial reduction: a person unable, on the same basis, to work at least six hours a day.

Note the phrase “for an unforeseeable period”: a temporary incapacity, however severe, does not create the entitlement. As long as improvement is expected within a foreseeable time, the route is sickness benefit or rehabilitation, not a pension.

The statute also treats two situations as full reduction outright: disabled persons who, because of the nature or severity of the disability, cannot work on the general labour market; and those who were already fully reduced before completing the waiting period, during a period of unsuccessful integration into the general labour market.

The clause that angers people: the labour market does not count

Paragraph 3 lays down a hard, clear rule: a person who can work at least six hours a day under the usual conditions of the general labour market is not reduced in earning capacity — and then adds the decisive words: “the prevailing labour-market situation is not to be taken into account.”

In practice the question is not whether a job that suits you actually exists, but whether you could in principle perform some work for six hours. If the answer is yes, there is no pension — even where it is practically impossible to find an employer who would hire you.

That separation between capacity and opportunity explains most refusals that strike applicants as unreasonable.

The contribution condition: three out of five

Before any medical assessment, an insurance threshold must be cleared: three years of compulsory contributions for insured employment or activity within the five years before the reduction arose — plus fulfilment of the general waiting period.

That condition defeats applications from people who stopped working years before their health declined. But paragraph 4 softens it with a rescue rule few know about: the five-year window is extended by certain periods not covered by compulsory contributions, chiefly:

• creditable periods and periods drawing a pension for reduced earning capacity;
• consideration periods — such as raising children;
• periods that are not creditable only because they did not interrupt insured employment, provided a compulsory contribution or one of the above periods falls within the last six calendar months before they began;
• periods of school education after the age of 17, up to seven years.

So the five years are not a rigid window: years spent raising children, studying, or drawing an earlier pension push the window backwards, bringing older contributions back inside it. Never assume the claim is lost before the extensions are calculated.

Practical steps

1. Work out the hours first. The question is your daily capacity on the general labour market — under three, between three and six, or six and above.
2. Check the incapacity is “of unforeseeable duration”. While improvement is expected soon, the route is rehabilitation or sickness benefit, not a pension.
3. Review your contribution record for the preceding five years. Three compulsory years is the threshold, and without it the medical question is never reached.
4. Ask expressly for the extensions to be calculated. Child-raising, school education after 17 and an earlier pension all stretch the five-year window.
5. Do not argue that no jobs exist. The statute excludes the labour-market situation expressly; the argument that works is medical, not economic.
6. Remember the time limit. The entitlement runs until the standard retirement age, after which the file moves to the old-age pension.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between the full and partial pension?

The full pension is for those unable to work at least three hours a day, the partial for those unable to manage six — under the usual conditions of the general labour market and for an unforeseeable period.

There are no jobs suited to my condition — does that help?

No. Paragraph 3 expressly excludes the labour-market situation; the test is your theoretical capacity to work, not the availability of jobs.

What is the contribution condition?

Three years of compulsory contributions within the five years before the reduction arose, together with the general waiting period.

I stopped working years ago — is my claim gone?

Not necessarily. The five-year window extends by creditable and consideration periods, by time drawing an earlier pension, and by school education after 17 up to seven years.

How long is it paid?

Until the standard retirement age is reached; after that the file becomes an old-age pension.