Friedrich Merz, federal chairman and chancellor candidate of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) said in an ARD television interview that most of the recipients of citizen’s benefit are able to work. This statement is mostly false.
“We have got 5.5 – 5.6 million citizen’s benefit recipients in Germany, around 4 millions of whom are able to work,” said Friedrich Merz on 13.10.2024 in the ARD program ‘Caren Miosga’. With this statement, Merz emphasizes that there are too many recipients of citizen’s benefit who could certainly work. “We have created a system that makes it more attractive for these people not to work and receive transfer payments than to enter the labour market,” Merz explained in the ARD program ‘maischberger’ on 04.12.2024. The abolition of the citizen’s benefit is one of the issues the CDU advocates for in the current election campaign. It is therefore important to clarify to what extent the citizen’s benefit is being misused and how attractive citizen’s benefits are.
What is citizen’s benefit?
The citizen’s benefit is a state social benefit that replaced the former Hartz IV on 01.01.2023. There are major changes in the area of the grace period, for example. This is the one-year period from the approval of the citizen’s benefit. Citizen’s benefit recipients are now allowed to keep savings under the value of 40,000€. In addition, the warm rent is covered by the state in the first year of receipt. The citizen’s benefit is intended to guarantee basic security for jobseekers and thus ensures support at a subsistence level. It is available to people who are able to work and currently have no job or whose income is not sufficient to provide for their family. A direct comparison shows that the citizen’s benefit has a higher standard rate than its predecessor, Hartz IV.
Despite the higher standard rate and the additional supplements such as the grace period or the increased allowance for savings, there was no noticeable increase of the number of applications submitted for the citizen’s benefit. While 3.72 million citizens received Hartz IV in 2022, the number increased by 210,000 citizens in 2023 with the introduction of the citizen’s benefit (statista).
Who is receiving citizen’s benefit?
People who are entitled to citizen’s benefit include those who:
- can work at least 3 hours a day
- are at least 15 years old and have not reached retirement age
- receive priority benefits, but these are not sufficient
According to the Federal Employment Agency (as of October 2024), 5.5 million citizens are receiving citizen’s benefit. 3.99 millions of these are able to work (statista). People are considered fit for work if they are not prevented from going to work due to illness or disability. The numbers that Friedrich Merz cites in his statement are thus correct. However, it is not clear from the figures whether people who are capable of working refuse to go to work.
Why aren’t employable recipients working?
According to the figures from the Federal Employment Agency, the group of employable recipients of citizen’s benefit is broken down as follows (as of July 2024):
Although people are employable according to the definition above, there are reasons why they are still unable to work. 11% are still in training, at school or studying. 7 % of those capable of working cannot go to work because they have to raise children or care for relatives. Other reasons are the inability to work, e.g. due to acute illness, pursuing unsubsidized employment or employment policy measures, e.g. an integration course. This leaves 44% for whom no such reason is statistically recorded. According to the newspaper ‘Tagesspiegel’, there may be obstacles to placement, so they call it. These include the lack of a vocational qualification, a severe disability, being older than 55 or haven’t been working for a long time. However, there may be other reasons that are not listed statistically. This shows that although there are a number of citizens who are able to work, they cannot pursue every available job due to restrictions.
Nevertheless, it cannot be completely ruled out that there are total refuseniks. However, this is sanctioned with a reduction in benefits. In the last twelve months (as of December 2024), 334.036 reductions were made to the citizen’s benefit. Of these, 21,730 were reductions due to refusal to take up or continue a subsidized employment relationship. In contrast, most of the reductions in the citizen’s benefit were due to failure to register. Consequently, there are indeed people who refuse to take up paid employment even though they are capable of working. However, this proportion is very small.
Conclusion
Generalized comments often accompany the discussion about the citizen’s benefit. However, these do not accurately reflect reality. Friedrich Merz’s statement is correct to the extent that there are around 4 million recipients of the citizen’s benefit who are able to work but do not go to work. However, the reasons for this are very diverse. The majority of them are unable to work for recorded reasons – such as education, caring for relatives or health restrictions. Only a very small proportion of citizens’ benefit recipients deliberately refuse to take up work, although this is sanctioned by benefit cuts. General statements, e.g. by Friedrich Merz, therefore, do not contribute to a differentiated debate, therefore his statement is largely false, as our sources prove.
RESEARCH | ARTICLE | Carla Tyska and Vera Riethof, Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart, Germany
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