More than half of unemployment benefit claimants in Germany quit their jobs and return to benefits just six months after starting work.
The tabloid Bild states:
“It seemed like a serious promise: “With the reform of unemployment benefits we will provide stable employment to people,” was the slogan of the updated social support measure, which came into force in 2023. However, the reality looks completely different! !
According to preliminary results of the study, one in two benefit recipients (51%) who had to find a permanent job with the help of a new support tool resigned after six months from the date of employment. In other words, half of the financial assistance recipients were employed only to meet the requirements that allowed them to return to social benefits after six months. This is a carousel in German.
Among foreigners, this figure also represented around 54% of the total number of applicants. It should be noted that the benefit was initially conceived as a tool “for the temporary provision of livelihoods,” the media notes.
In addition to failures to stimulate job growth, regulators are also concerned about who will benefit. According to an audit report by the German Federal Employment Agency, random checks at 17 employment centers in the first half of 2023 revealed errors related to the recording of recipients’ personal data in almost a third of cases.
“In 31% of cases, support was paid without clear certainty that the recipient existed and that he was the person who was entitled to the benefit. Across Germany, this means that hundreds of thousands of people could receive payments without employment centers having reliable information about the personal data of these applicants.” – noted in the post.
Auditors also criticized “excessive generosity” in approving benefits. In 85% of cases, analysts found errors when accounting for the applicant’s property. In 11% of the cases examined, employment centers also incorrectly reflected the applicants’ income, which was taken into account when calculating and agreeing on payments.
