Continuity in der basic income support scheme: 'Jobcenters' and 'Optionskommunen'

Abstract

This paper sketches out the forms of the three organisations implementing labour market policies: the ARGE (joint agency of the job centre and local authority); the 'Optionskommune' (a local authority opting to be the sole agency administering the basic income for job-seekers); and the AAgAw (agency with separate duties). The central issue concerns the political dispute caused by the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court of 2007 which established that the ARGEn were unconstitutional because of the mixed nature of their administration. What are described here are the political process set in motion by that decision - a process which lasted two and a half years - along with the interests of all those involved. The outcome of this process was a new article in the German Basic Law, 91e, passed in the summer of 2010. This article provides the legal prerequisites to allow the former ARGEn to continue their work - under the name of 'Jobcenters' - thus enabling them to go on providing support to those in need. The new article 91e of the German Basic Law also provides a new legal basis for the 'Optionskommunen'. This political decision mirrors the results of the scientifically based evaluation study which was unable to prove either of the two models to have clear advantages. The decision to accept the mixed administration on a permanent basis is in direct opposition to the federalism reforms of the last years. (IAB)

Cite article

Steinke, J. (2010): Kontinuität in der Grundsicherung. Jobcenter und Optionskommunen. In: Gesellschaft, Wirtschaft, Politik, Vol. 59, No. 3, p. 301-308.