Hartz IV: Lindner plans drastic cuts for the long-term unemployed – CDU foams: “social cutbacks”
Created: 07/07/2022 13:44
By: Lisa Mayerhofer
Finance Minister Lindner is apparently planning to drastically cut Hartz IV benefits.
(kreiszeitung.de-Montage) © Future Image/Imago/Fabian Sommer/dpa
Finance Minister Lindner is apparently planning to drastically cut Hartz IV benefits.
According to a report, the end of the social labor market in particular is threatened in the coming years.
Berlin - The return to the debt brake - it is the central promise of Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP).
For the first time after three exceptional years due to the corona pandemic, the brake anchored in the Basic Law is to be complied with again in the 2023 federal budget.
Apparently, however, the funds for the social labor market are to be drastically reduced.
Hartz IV: Lindner wants to make savings, especially when it comes to promoting the long-term unemployed
"We simply cannot afford additional debt," said the FDP leader in Berlin.
"Today's debts are tomorrow's tax increases." Whoever runs up debts permanently will have to turn the tax screw to pay them off.
However, Lindner again ruled out tax increases.
That is why the debt brake is so important.
But how is that supposed to succeed in uncertain times like these?
Where can money be saved?
Among other things, Lindner apparently plans to save on the promotion of the long-term unemployed.
The
mirror
reports and refers to the budget draft for the coming year.
In 2023, "benefits for integration into work" in the basic security for jobseekers are to be reduced from around 4.8 billion euros to 4.2 billion euros.
This means that 609 million euros in Hartz IV benefits are to be saved.
According to Spiegel
, the funds for multi-year funding in particular are to be largely reduced
in the coming years .
According to the magazine, the maturities of the corresponding commitment authorizations are to be reduced to five million euros a year by 2029, according to the plan.
According to
Spiegel
, the social labor market is de facto on the brink of collapse.
Criticism from the CDU: “This social cutback is definitely not sustainable”
The foundations for the social labor market were initiated in 2019 by Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD).
Companies that hire long-term unemployed people receive a wage subsidy over several years.
More than 42,000 jobs were financed or partially financed in 2021 as part of the measure relating to Section 16i of the Second Book of the Code of Social Law.
According to the Paritätisches Gesamtverband, the Hartz IV funding measures have been a success so far.
They would both reduce spending under SGB II and ensure that around 40,000 people affected would receive 40 million euros as income tax back into the state budget.
As a result of the funding, around two-thirds of those affected no longer need help and would no longer receive social benefits.
However, the costs of the support measures are high and have amounted to almost four billion euros since 2019.
When asked by Spiegel
, the Federal Ministry of Finance
did not comment on the apparently planned cuts.
Meanwhile, harsh criticism comes from the left and the CDU.
The CDU social expert Kai Whittaker told the Spiegel: "The long-term unemployed are particularly affected, and their integration into the labor market and social participation is now becoming more difficult." Instead of creating hundreds of new jobs in its own apparatus, the government should let the money benefit the population, Whittaker told the magazine.
"This social cutback is definitely not sustainable."
(lma/dpa)
