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Citizens' benefits were cut for almost 16,000 people who refused to work

2024-04-20T12:42:53.163Z



The latest figures from the Federal Employment Agency show: Only very few people receiving civil benefit were sanctioned in 2023 because they refused to take up a job.

Berlin - Only a fraction of citizens' benefit recipients had to accept benefit cuts last year because they rejected job offers. This emerges from current statistics from the Federal Employment Agency. The editorial network Germany (RND) initially reported.

As the Federal Agency (BA) reports on its website, between February and December 2023 there were a total of 15,774 cases in which benefits were reduced due to the refusal to “take up or continue work, training, measures or a subsidized employment relationship”. There is therefore no differentiation according to reasons for January 2023.

Overall, the job centers counted more than 226,000 cases of benefit cuts last year - an increase of 77,520 cases compared to the previous year. Most of the cuts (84.5 percent) occurred because benefit recipients did not show up for appointments without giving an important reason.

Around 5.5 million people in Germany receive citizen's benefit, of which 3.9 million are considered employable. The BA points out that around 2.6 percent of those entitled to benefits who are fit for work were affected by at least one cut in 2023. “This means that 97 out of 100 people do not come into contact with reduced performance,” it says.

BA: Number of benefit cuts at a low level

As the BA further explains, the number of benefit cuts has recently increased slightly again. However, compared to the times before the corona pandemic, it is at a fairly low level. In 2019, the job center had imposed almost 807,000 cuts. According to the BA, the significant difference compared to last year is primarily due to the fact that with the introduction of citizens' money on January 1, 2023, the options for sanctions were noticeably restricted - a point that repeatedly causes strong criticism of the new system.

In response, the federal government recently tightened its sanction rules for citizens' benefit recipients again: Since March of this year, job centers have been able to completely cancel citizen's benefit for unemployed people for a maximum of two months if they persistently refuse to take up work. Labor market experts are skeptical about this tightening. For example, Enzo Weber from the Institute for Labor Market and Vocational Research (IAB) in Nuremberg recently pointed out in a dpa interview that it is not easy to always clearly identify “black sheep” among those receiving benefits. This becomes more and more difficult as you get older.

Citizens' money: criticism from the Union and the FDP

Above all, the Union, but also the governing party FDP, repeatedly criticize that the current system provides too few incentives for benefit recipients to take up work. In March, the CDU presented its own concept for a “new basic security” with which it wants to replace citizens' money in its current form if it wins the federal elections next year.

The system that the CDU under party leader Friedrich Merz has in mind includes, among other things, faster sanctions for “total refusers”. Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) also recently made it clear that he believes a revision of citizens' money is advisable. An “update” is needed, explained Lindner.

Citizens' money replaced the controversial Hartz IV system at the beginning of last year. Benefit recipients should be better placed in work through the new model. Instead of punishment, the federal government wanted to focus primarily on cooperation. The sanction options for citizens' money are therefore moderate compared to previous times: a ten percent reduction in performance is conceivable if appointments are missed, and up to 30 percent if applications or course participation are not agreed upon. dpa

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2024-04-20

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