The (, ) is Germany's unemployment payment introduced on 1 January 2023. The was developed by Olaf Scholz's coalition government and ratified by Germany's two chambers in November 2022. Compared to its predecessor (commonly known as Hartz IV), it has a higher unemployment grant ('' Regelsatz''), with adult jobseekers living alone now receiving a default sum of €502 per month (plus standard rates for rent and energy), compared to the previous €449. In 2024 the sum was increased to €563. The introduction of also increased the amount of personal wealth that beneficiaries can hold without a part of their unemployment grant being deducted. A single adult can own up to €40,000. also replaced the

Sozialgeld Sozialgeld (social benefit) to § 28 SGB II was a special performance of the German welfare system, which the social assistance (HLU) from the Twelfth Book of the Social substituted for vulnerable persons *are not of working age and *3 SGB II lebe ...

, a benefit for people who cannot work.

Predecessor

The predecessor Hartz IV was introduced on 1 January 2005 by the

Second Schröder cabinet The Second Schröder cabinet ( German: ''Kabinett Schröder II'') was the 19th Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad ass ...

, a coalition of the German

Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...

and Greens. How much money beneficiaries received has been adjusted several times. In 2011, the grand coalition between Social Democrats and

Christian Democrats Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well a ...

reformed Hartz IV.

Reform

Beginning in 2022, labour minister

Hubertus Heil Wolfgang-Hubertus Ernst Ulrich Heil (born 3 November 1972) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs in the fourth cabinet of Angela Merkel and the cabinet of Ola ...

(Social Democrats) developed the proposal for the ruling

traffic light coalition In German politics, a traffic light coalition () is a coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Alliance 90/The Greens. It is named after the parties' traditional colours, respectively red, y ...

. After the coalition passed their proposal in Germany's lower chamber (

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

), the opposition Christian Democrats (

CDU/CSU CDU/CSU, unofficially the Union parties ( ) or the Union, is a centre-right Christian democratic and conservative political alliance of two political parties in Germany: the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and the Christian Social U ...

) used their consent law veto in the upper chamber ( Bundesrat). This led to negotiations and a Bundesrat-Bundestag compromise reached via the procedure.

Development

The basic idea behind the was to bring people into the workforce. In June 2024 the number of recipients had risen for the second year to some 5.5 million people. Four million of those were theoretically able to work while 1.5 million were deemed unfit for work. While 17% of people in Germany were not German citizens at that time, 47% of the people receiving belonged to that group. The statistics did not record whether someone with a German passport originally came to Germany as a migrant or a refugee. About a quarter of the 47% non-Germans came from

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. Hugo Müller-Vogg commented that industry was desperately looking for workers, while the government made it more attractive for non-Germans in Germany to stay unemployed. The

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

Correctiv Correctiv (self-styled CORRECT!V) is a German nonprofit investigative journalism newsroom based in Essen and Berlin. It is run by ''CORRECTIV – Recherchen für die Gesellschaft gemeinnützige GmbH'' ("CORRECTIV – Investigations for the Soci ...

commented on the for migrants and pointed out that German law initially requires asylum seekers to stay in the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

they were allocated under a refugee-sharing agreement, which may hinder them from finding work, if in a state with high shares of unemployment. In October 2024, the German public health insurance organizations blamed the government for a sharp rise in premiums, since the monthly €119 paid by the government for each of the 5,6 million recipients of to the organisations were insufficient to cover the cost. That resulted in the rest of the members having to cover for the €9.2 billion in annual losses by paying higher premiums.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burgergeld Unemployment in Germany Welfare in Germany Scholz cabinet Unemployment benefits