Economy labor market
Since the introduction of citizens’ benefits, fewer people have switched from work to state security
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Haseloff supports compulsory work for citizens’ benefit recipients who are difficult to place
Saxony-Anhalt’s Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU) has spoken out in favor of requiring not only asylum seekers, but also difficult-to-place recipients of citizen’s benefit to do community service. Haseloff is skeptical about the idea of a payment card for citizens’ benefit recipients.
Are the social benefits in Germany so high that many people prefer to switch to citizen’s benefit instead of still working? The numbers speak a different language
The number of people in Germany now receiving basic security due to loss of employment fell to an all-time low last year, the year in which citizens’ benefit was launched. Around 341,000 people slipped from employment on the regular labor market to basic security in 2023 – 54,000 fewer than in 2022. This is shown by the Federal Government’s response to a request from the Greens in the Bundestag, which is available to the German Press Agency (dpa).
This means that in 2023, the year the citizen’s benefit was introduced, there was the lowest level of access for unemployed people to basic security for job seekers from regular employment since Hartz IV was introduced in 2005, according to the Ministry of Social Affairs. There is no evidence that there has been a wave of mass dismissals since the introduction of citizens’ benefit.
In October, the Federal Association of the Building Cleaning Trade, citing its own survey among its member companies, reported that in 28 percent of the companies, several employees had already resigned or had promised to resign with specific reference to the citizen’s benefit.
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18 years after the start of the Hartz IV system, citizen’s money took its place at the beginning of 2023. The basic security rates had increased by around 50 euros. With the increase at the beginning of 2024, the 5.5 million people in need received an average of around twelve percent more money transferred to their accounts.
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Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) then said that the calculation method needed to be checked. The Union had repeatedly criticized citizens’ money. CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann announced that his party would abolish citizens’ money in its current form. In view of cases in which employees end up with less money than recipients of citizens’ benefit, the Hartz IV successor opens a gap in justice.
The Green MP Frank Bsirske, who made the request, accused the Union of “irresponsible propaganda”. “The numbers clearly show that fewer people have switched from a job to citizen’s benefit than ever before,” continued the former Verdi boss. The discussion about increasing the standard rates for citizens’ benefit did not lead to more terminations last year.