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Compulsory service for school leavers? Why that would be an expensive minus deal

2022-06-26T04:07:54.358Z


Compulsory service for school leavers? Why that would be an expensive minus deal Created: 06/26/2022, 05:54 By: Prof. Dr. Friedrich Heineman Prof. Dr. Friedrich Heinemann heads the research department “Corporate Taxation and Public Finance” at the ZEW – Leibniz Center for European Economic Research © ZEW/N. Bruckmann/M. Litzka Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has spoken out in favor o


Compulsory service for school leavers?

Why that would be an expensive minus deal

Created: 06/26/2022, 05:54

By: Prof. Dr.

Friedrich Heineman

Prof. Dr.

Friedrich Heinemann heads the research department “Corporate Taxation and Public Finance” at the ZEW – Leibniz Center for European Economic Research © ZEW/N.

Bruckmann/M.

Litzka

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has spoken out in favor of introducing compulsory social service.

But contrary to what many had hoped, such a step would not save any costs, but would further exacerbate the shortage of skilled workers and would also be bad business for the tax authorities, warns Prof. Dr.

Friedrich Heinemann in the guest article.

In Germany, the Federal President's initiative ignited the debate about a compulsory social year for young people.

A general conscription, so the apparently plausible idea, could combat the lack of workers in the armed forces, kindergartens and old people's homes at manageable costs.

In addition, young people would learn important social skills and make a contribution to the common good.

The assessment of this idea initially depends heavily on basic socio-political convictions.

From a school of thought that regards autonomous decisions about education, development and career choice as a right to freedom, compulsory military service must appear as a paternalistic aberration.

On the other hand, advocates of a stronger collective social orientation give the state the right to participate in the education and upbringing of young people with certain normative goals.

There are also controversial distribution considerations.

In terms of distribution policy, the compulsory social year would mean a redistribution at the expense of the younger generation, whose labor would be used by the state for a year.

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In addition, the debate is also about labor market and financial policy.

And here one has to accuse the supporters of compulsory service of making gross misjudgments.

The view that compulsory service for school leavers saves costs or would be suitable to combat the increasing shortage of workers in the army, kindergartens and nursing homes is not convincing.

Compulsory social service would exacerbate existing labor shortages

Much speaks for the opposite.

A compulsory social year would exacerbate the shortage of qualified workers.

With the introduction of such compulsory service, a whole cohort of school leavers would only be available for the labor market a year later.

Young men and women would only start their training or courses later.

At a time when the number of students is decreasing anyway and companies are lamenting the lack of applicants for apprenticeships, that would be counterproductive.

Anyone who sees this shortage as a one-year transitional phenomenon is wrong.

Compulsory service would affect the employment biographies of all future junior cohorts.

The training would be completed with a delay of one year.

Ultimately, one year of qualified work in the profession you have chosen would be lost over the entire career.

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Demand for compulsory service reveals disregard for qualifications in the armed forces and the social sector

In return, the young people in the forced compulsory year only do the work of unskilled workers.

In a maximum period of one year, no more than one crash course is possible in order to still have time for the actual work assignment.

That's not enough either in the Bundeswehr with its demanding tasks today, or in the social sector for work that goes beyond handyman services.

This comprehensive exchange of skilled for unskilled work would destroy added value and further reduce Germany's growth potential, which is already shrinking due to demographics.  

Basically, the demand for compulsory service also reveals a disregard for qualifications in the sectors concerned.

There is a misconception here that putting a gun in your hand and giving orders turns people into soldiers;

or that anyone could work as a nurse or educator after a short briefing.

None of this corresponds in any way to professional realities with their diverse professional requirements.

The Bundeswehr would not get the necessary highly qualified soldiers, but rather auxiliary troops trained in crash courses.

And in the social sector or in schools and kindergartens, the conscripts could at best work as assistants to the qualified workers.

Duty can have unintended consequences

It is highly doubtful that all of this would help the efficiency of the institutions.

The use of the apparently cheap and, due to the coercive character, not particularly motivated labor force could even cause damage.

The healthcare sector, for example, is still lagging far behind the rest of the economy in terms of digitization.

When inexpensive errand boys are available again to lug files around, that is anything but an incentive to innovate.

For the Bundeswehr, there is also the fact that the credibility of deterrence decreases with a high proportion of conscripts.

Even in today's Russia under the Putin dictatorship, the army has a hard time using conscripts in war.

It would be all the more difficult for a democracy to send Bundeswehr brigades with conscripts on risky missions or even into combat in the event of NATO assistance.

Inexpensive service commitments are a thing of the past

In addition, the compulsory service for the tax authorities is much more expensive than the myth of the inexpensive conscripts suggests.

Proponents repeatedly overlook the immense opportunity costs.

The late entry of young people into their training occupation costs a year of qualified work in the field of their own choice and training until retirement.

Overall, the Treasury swaps the annual tax and contribution payments of a qualified worker with the (non-existent) taxes of an unskilled and poorly paid unskilled worker.

Compulsory service would therefore also be an immensely costly negative business from a fiscal point of view.

About the author: Prof. Dr.

Friedrich Heinemann heads the research department "Corporate Taxation and Public Finance" at the ZEW - Leibniz Center for European Economic Research and teaches economics at the University of Heidelberg.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-06-26

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