Qualification opportunities and protection in unemployment insurance

Abstract

The present IAB statement addresses, on the one hand, the draft legislation "Qualifizierungschancen und Schutz in der Arbeitslosenversicherung" ("Qualification opportunities and protection in unemployment insurance") of the Federal Government (Qualification Opportunities Act) (Bundestag printed matter 19/4948). The draft legislation provides for further development of employment promotion. The envisaged legislative changes are supposed to make access to the promotion of further vocational training easier and to strengthen the protective function of unemployment insurance. On the other hand, the IAB comments on parts of the motion "Aktive und präventive Arbeitsmarktpolitik umsetzen - Qualifizierung ausweiten und Arbeitslosenversicherung stärken" ("Implementing active and preventive labour market policy: Extending qualification and strengthening unemployment insurance") by the Die Linke parliamentary group (Bundestag printed matter 19/5524). The IAB has no scientific findings available on the motion "Die 70-Tage-Regelung bei kurzfristiger Beschäftigung entfristen" ("Removing the limit for the 70-day rule for short-term employment") by the FDP parliamentary group (Bundestag printed matter 19/4213). Further vocational training will very likely become more and more important in these times of digital and demographic change. But it is also important to implement the legislative changes in such a way that disincentives are avoided if at all possible and the intended objectives of the law can be achieved. It is impossible to estimate the effects of a broad opening and more generously designed promotion of further vocational training for employees ex ante. It is particularly important to design the promotion in such a way that there are limits to the utilisation of the promotion. The topic of further education guidance counselling is only addressed in passing in this concept, but it is expected to become more important in the future. The consequences of the planned extension of the qualifying period are expected to be manageable. It would make sense to change the access requirements for unemployment insurance only in small steps, as suggested in the draft legislation, and to observe the effects for the time being. As the target figure of reserve assets for the BA budget will be reached next year, there is financial leeway. With the planned reduction in the contribution rate by 0.5 percentage points and the significantly higher expense on employment promotion, a balanced BA budget would be possible if the labour market development remained favourable. If the reserve assets were consumed in case of recession, a classification of contribution rate adjustments would be recommended in order to increase reserve assets back to the target value within five years.

Cite article

Dauth, C., Kruppe, T., Stephan, G. & Weber, E. (2018): Qualifizierungschancen und Schutz in der Arbeitslosenversicherung. Öffentliche Anhörung von Sachverständigen vor dem Ausschuss für Arbeit und Soziales des Deutschen Bundestages am 26. November 2018. (IAB-Stellungnahme 15/2018), Nürnberg, 25 p.