Germany’s highest court reached a groundbreaking decision this week when it ruled that it was “partially illegal” to penalize Hartz IV welfare recipients. We look at why critics have called to change the system since its beginnings.
Berlin Mayor Michael Müller has called for an end to the controversial Hartz IV welfare system, saying that every jobless Berliner should have the right to a basic income.
The outspoken Christian Democrat politician Jens Spahn told a newspaper on Saturday that Germany was a country without poverty thanks to its "Hartz IV" social security payments. Critics called his comments “cold-hearted and aloof.”
One-third of unemployed people in Germany are unable to afford a square meal at least once every two days, figures from the Federal Office of Statistics showed on Monday.
The European Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday that Germany can deny basic welfare payments to European migrants - even if they've previously had a job in the country.
Poverty levels in Germany have reached an all-time high, with 15.5 percent of the population – or 12.5 million people - affected. Single parents and unemployed people were the hardest hit, according to a report from a welfare association.
EU immigrants found abusing the German benefits system could be banned from re-entering the country for up to five years under a planned draft law. It comes as figures on Thursday showed migration to Germany has reached a 20-year high.
The German government is planning a shake-up of the country’s unemployment benefit system, Hartz IV, by introducing stricter rules on claimants in a move which supporters say will cut bureaucracy.
EU citizens who have never worked in Germany but have been living in the country for a long time can claim unemployment benefits, a court ruled on Thursday, in a decision which could affect 130,000 foreigners in Germany.
Unemployment benefits are seen as a stigma in German society with a new study comparing prejudice faced by the jobless with racism in the United States.
More than one in three Germans entitled to state benefits do not apply - saving the government billions - a new study showed. Shame and not knowing they are eligible are thought to be the most likely explanations.
More Germans need state help to supplement their wages - because their jobs pay so badly they cannot pull themselves above the poverty line, figures from the Federal Employment Agency (BA) showed on Wednesday.
People on unemployment benefits are not as lazy as many of Germans think, an official at the Federal Employment Agency said on Monday. Over two-thirds of them would love to work - and not just for the money.
Germans living on the most basic state unemployment support who do not have to seek work because they are sick will face increased checks and reduction of payments should they be unconvincing, according to an internal document.
A central German job centre has gone to court for a second time over the paltry sum of 15 cents, after refusing to round up to a full euro payments to a man on unemployment benefits.
More than three million of Germany's unemployed are long-term cases, new statistics revealed on Saturday. The Federal Employment Agency (BA) describes these as the "hardcore" of those on the dole.
The number of self-employed Germans who need basic state support to survive because they do not earn enough money themselves has almost doubled in recent years, according to a study published on Monday.
German companies should receive a subsidy if they take on the long-term unemployed, state governments are set to propose on Friday. Up to 75 percent of the new salary should be paid by the state, if necessary for several years.
