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Photo: Marcel Kusch / DPA
According to calculations by the Paritätischer Gesamtverband, the planned increase in the Hartz IV standard rates for 2021 is far too low - because the federal government is not determining the expenditure.
In its own expertise, which is available to SPIEGEL, the association will in future be calling for 644 euros of basic security for single adults, which would be 212 euros more than before.
The federal government wants to raise the standard rate for single people, however, only to 446 euros.
It is currently 432 euros.
In addition, the state also bears the cost of accommodation for those affected.
The Hartz IV adjustment for the next year is under special observation, since Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) had the standard rates recalculated at great expense.
They were determined on the basis of an income and expenditure sample (EVS), which is collected every five years by the Federal Statistical Office.
The focus is on the bottom 15 percent of single incomes, and for families on the bottom 20 percent.
The expenditure of these "reference households" is based on what the state also allows Hartz IV recipients.
The sample was last collected in 2018.
The welfare association considers this principle to be a bias and therefore bases its calculations on average income just above the poverty line.
In addition, unlike in the official calculation, the association also includes individual consumer expenditure such as tobacco or cleaning expenditure.
On this basis, the other standard rates would also have to be increased significantly:
- for spouses and partners by 190 euros from
389 euros
to
580 euros
,
- for young adults up to 25 years by 170 euros from
345 euros
to
515 euros
,
- for children aged 14 to 17 by 126 euros from
328 euros
to
454 euros
,
- for children aged 6 to 13 for 71 euros from
308 euros
to
379 euros
,
- for children up to 5 years old for 68 euros from
250 euros
to
318 euros
.
The state's annual additional expenditure for this would amount to 14.5 billion euros, according to the joint association.
However, from the point of view of the association, such an increase would in fact have eliminated the problem of relative poverty.
As a rule, all households would be raised above the relative poverty risk threshold, which is generally defined at 60 percent of the average household income.
Those who have less money at their disposal are considered to be at risk of poverty.
5.7 million people are currently receiving basic state security.
They include the long-term unemployed, single parents, low-income earners and children.
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