2024-04-08 02:13:07
Significantly more Ukrainians started working in March, and Heil’s plan seems to be slowly working. The FDP is now demanding that the “job turbo” should apply to all recipients of citizens’ benefit.
At the beginning of the year it looked as if the project was a flop – but now at least small successes are emerging: the “job turbo” for refugee Ukrainians pushed by Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) is starting to have an impact, albeit at a low level.
As data from the Federal Employment Agency for the past month of March shows, the number of Ukrainians who switched from receiving citizen’s benefit to a regular job increased by 68.9 percent compared to January. Compared to the same month last year, March 2023, the number even doubled.
But: In absolute numbers, the success remains manageable. Accordingly, in March 5,415 people who had fled to Germany from the Russian war of aggression took up employment subject to social insurance contributions, more than ever before. Nevertheless, the number seems very small in relation to the total number of Ukrainian refugees who receive state benefits. According to the employment agency, around 420,000 job-seeking Ukrainians were receiving benefits in March.
Get into the job with less language skills
Heil announced a “job turbo” for them last fall. The idea: The job centers should provide companies with more Ukrainians with even limited language skills, and the companies in turn should create corresponding positions for them. There was initially no effect to be seen, on the contrary: in January the proportion of Ukrainians who got work using citizens’ money actually fell compared to the previous year. As a result, Heil practiced damage limitation and asked for patience, at least until the summer. (Here you can read more about it.)
His ministry is now all the more pleased about the current development. Companies would be much more likely to offer jobs to people with little knowledge of German. Meanwhile, the job centers reported that refugees were “invited and advised significantly more often.” “The number of conversations increased by 225,000 between November 2023 and February 2024 compared to the same period last year,” a ministry spokeswoman told t-online.
The extent to which the current trend will consolidate cannot be said until “late summer,” it goes on to say. “With the ‘Jobturbo’ action plan, we have already succeeded in ensuring that all actors work even more closely together on the rapid integration of refugees into the labor market.”
Savings in the federal budget possible
This integration is relevant, not least with a view to the upcoming negotiations for the 2025 federal budget. The Ministry of Labor traditionally manages the largest budget item; this year it is around 175 billion euros, of which 26.7 billion euros are attributable to citizens’ money alone. For comparison: the entire state budget has a volume of around 470 billion euros.
The fact that the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, who, unlike refugees from other countries of origin, receive citizen’s benefit from day one, quickly find a job is therefore important not only for the economy, which is running out of workers – but also for the planned savings target of around half a billion euros with citizen’s money. And the same applies to the 2025 budget: the more Ukrainians take up employment subject to social security contributions, the more money the state can save.
The housekeepers of the traffic light factions in the Bundestag are also discussing this connection, where the budget is ultimately decided and where people are also pleased about the first signs that the “job turbo” is a success. Nevertheless, there are also voices who would like to draw conclusions from the project for refugees about all recipients of citizens’ benefit.
Meyer: Apply “Jobturbo” to all recipients of citizen’s benefit
FDP parliamentary group vice-president Christoph Meyer, responsible for budget and finance at the Liberals, told t-online: “Initial data shows that the ‘job turbo’ is working for Ukrainian refugees. The ‘job turbo’ should therefore be applied to all recipients of citizen’s benefit. Own work instead The goal is social benefits. For society as a whole, more jobs subject to social insurance also mean a stabilization of social contributions.”
Meyer is also taking aim at the current fundamental discussion about the size of the welfare state. While FDP leader and Finance Minister Christian Lindner recently repeatedly pushed for a three-year “welfare state moratorium” that would at least prevent an expansion of state benefits, the Greens and Social Democrats are rejecting such plans.