Survey shows: Hartz IV recipients disagree on abolition of sanctions

Created: 08/03/2022, 02:38 p.m

By: Patricia Huber

The new plans for citizen income are mostly well received by Hartz IV recipients.

However, there are still disagreements over the abolition of sanctions.

Berlin – The traffic light government wants to completely redesign Hartz IV.

The citizen's allowance is to replace the previous unemployment benefit II from next year and make many things easier for the recipients: There should be more money and fewer regulations - provided that the new law is waved through.

Citizens' allowance plans are well received by the long-term unemployed

The planned changes are mostly well received by the long-term unemployed.

This is shown by a survey by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) and the Ruhr University Bochum.

Accordingly, 89 percent of those surveyed support an increase in the standard rates.

74 percent would be happy if they could earn something on top of the Hartz IV standard rate without being charged.

However, opinion is divided on the complete abolition of sanctions.

While 53 percent of the survey participants find this regulation "very good" or "rather good", 47 percent consider it "bad", "rather bad" or are still unsure.

The results of the DIW survey.

© German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin)

Many Hartz IV recipients think that recipients take advantage of the system

This shows that the long-term unemployed are not a homogeneous group with uniform values ​​and feelings of justice, said Rolf Heinze from the Ruhr University.

65 percent of those questioned were of the opinion that many recipients of Hartz IV would take advantage of the system.

At the same time, 42 percent were ashamed of receiving Hartz IV.

The survey shows that the citizens' benefit plans hit a nerve with the beneficiaries.

"Many long-term unemployed people struggle with the previous basic security system," says Jürgen Schupp from DIW Berlin, who evaluated the survey together with his colleagues.

"The planned reform, which, among other things, is intended to reduce bureaucracy in the system and to rebalance the relationship between funding and demands, mainly contains sensible aspects - but some points are still vague and unclear," says Schupp.