Berufliche Rehabilitation im Kontext des SGB II

Abstract

"In 2005 a new Social Code was implemented in Germany, the so called Social Code II and marked a mayor Welfare State Reform. At the same time the entrances into occupational rehabilitation schemes for disabled people declined dramatically. The current implementation study explores the effects of the new Social Code II on the system of occupational rehabilitation from an inside institutional perspective. In-depth expert interviews were employed with placement officers responsible for training and activation of disabled people in existing institutions of the Federal Employment Services and in new institutions founded as a consequence of the new Social Code. The interviews focussed on selection mechanisms, decision taking and communication processes in the system of occupational rehabilitation after the Welfare State Reform. Results show that reasons for declining entrances in rehabilitation schemes are manifold. As a consequence of the new Social Code new institutions were founded responsible for activation and training of long-term unemployed also for the long-time unemployed with severe health problems. In 2005 these new institutions had to organize everything: staff, training, payment of unemployment benefit, cooperation and communication structures. The payment of unemployment benefit was handled with priority, nobody concentrated on special fields like occupational rehabilitation. Hiring of new staff and reorganizing the established staff lead to fast turnover rates and made knowledge transfer and continuous learning on the job difficult. As a result there were insecurities with the identification of rehabilitation demands. Persons with severe health problems need intensive advisory services and possibly time consuming (re)training schemes. Their labour market integration is neither fast nor easy to achieve. Most interviewed placement officers admit that since the Welfare State Reform efficiency has to be their main interest. Meaning those clients who have the highest probability to enter the labour market rapidly are handled with priority. Therefore occupational rehabilitation and provision of jobs that are really suitable to the state of health are rarely handled with priority. One second set of reasons is related to the reluctance of the rehabilitants themselves to enter special health-related occupational training schemes. The severe situation on the labour market provokes that people with inferior health are less willing to express their need for occupational reorientation and training in fear of being stigmatized by future employers. Further more people are afraid of staying unemployed after re training and of financial restrictions during the rehabilitation programme. Rehabilitation schemes including the completion of a totally new professional education take at least two years. These are seen as two years dominated by financial restrictions because participants receive only Unemployment Benefit, which was introduced by the new Social Code and is flat-rated on the minimum security level." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Schneider, E., Hobler, D., Zimmermann, M., Behrens, J., Schubert, M., Hauger, M., Höhne, A. & Hippmann, C. (2007): Berufliche Rehabilitation im Kontext des SGB II. (IAB-Bibliothek 309), Nürnberg, 94 p.