A German Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the DIHK, has called for more measures to be taken with the citizen’s basic income. The deputy managing director, Achim Dercks, stated to the Funke Media Group that incentives to work must be increased, so that the shortage of skilled workers in companies does not rise.
Dercks emphasized that the principle of promoting and demanding, as well as the goal of taking up work, should play a central role in the future. He also pointed out that high social benefits often do not make it worthwhile for minimum and low-wage earners to work. “It is essential, therefore, that those who are in receipt of the citizen’s basic income and take up a job, can keep more of the money they earn” the DIHK representative explained.
Dercks’ statement came in response to a renewed debate on the citizen’s basic income. The CDU’s general secretary, Carsten Linnemann, had called for fundamental changes to the system over the weekend, stating that he wanted to “get to the core of the issue”. Linnemann had repeatedly expressed the intention to completely remove the basic security for those he suspected of being unwilling to work and receiving the citizen’s basic income. The deputy leader of the SPD parliamentary group, Dagmar Schmidt, countered that the social state was “not a cost factor that can simply be cut according to the budget”.
The German Association of Social Welfare (SoVD) expressed understanding for sanctions against total refusers of the citizen’s basic income, but pointed out that the significance of the problem was overestimated. “The share of so-called ‘total refusers’ is under one percent. There is no widespread problem with the citizen’s basic income. Whoever claims the opposite only fuels prejudices and fuels the division of society” said the SoVD’s chairwoman, Michaela Engelmeier, to the Funke Media Group.
Engelmeier also referred to the experiences made by the association’s staff in social counseling centers. “Most people who receive the citizen’s basic income want to work. But many fall into this situation unprepared due to illness, old age, or family burdens, such as caring for relatives” she said. Whoever wants to cut the basic security should first talk to the affected people, Engelmeier explained. “I cordially invite Carsten Linnemann to our social counseling. Make yourself an image of how difficult the situation of many people really is.