A recent proposal to introduce a nationwide mandatory work requirement for recipients of social benefits has been met with skepticism by the Left Party in the German Bundestag. According to their calculations, the measure would incur additional costs of up to 7.1 billion euros per year for the taxpayer.
The party cites its own estimates, which were reported by the newspapers of the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland”. These calculations suggest that the state would need to spend an average of 657 euros per month and position to establish and operate the additional non-profit jobs. Only a fifth of this amount would go towards the legally required compensation for the unemployed, with the rest being borne by the provider or the local community.
The proposal for a nationwide mandatory work requirement was most recently advocated by CDU and FDP members. In the expert paper of the Left Party group, the estimated annual costs of 7.1 billion euros are based on the assumption that at least half of the approximately 1.8 million employable unemployed individuals could be placed in such positions. “Additional job center internal costs for administering these measures would be added to this” the paper states.
The Left Party rejects the mandatory work requirement, stating that it would not only violate numerous laws but would also be extremely costly for the taxpayer. “The proposed mandatory work requirement not only violates countless laws, but would also be extremely expensive for the taxpayer” said the group’s chair, Heidi Reichinnek, to the RND. “Even if this mandatory work requirement were only implemented for half of the affected individuals, it would cost twice as much as all current training and measures in the social benefit system combined.”
The party believes that the money would be better spent if the state were to finance regular jobs in existing companies or public institutions, rather than creating non-profit positions. “With these 7 billion euros per year, we could also create 450,000 entirely normal, socially insured jobs for long-term unemployed individuals” said the social policy expert.
The Left Party’s calculation assumes that of the approximately 5.5 million unemployed individuals in basic security, only around 1.8 million people would be eligible for a mandatory work requirement. According to the Federal Employment Agency, the remaining individuals are not available for the labor market due to reasons such as being under the age of 18, already employed, in training, chronically ill, or disabled, or due to other barriers like childcare or care responsibilities.
The debate was sparked by the city of Schwerin, which plans to introduce a mandatory work requirement for recipients of social benefits in Germany’s first move in this direction. Following this, CDU members began calling for a nationwide implementation of the model.