The Conflicting Priorities of Labor Market and Participation Policy – 20 Years of Institutional Change in Basic Income Support for Jobseekers

Abstract

"The basic income support for jobseekers, introduced at the beginning of 2005, has been caught between labour market and participation policy from the outset. It is intended to secure the socio-cultural subsistence level of those entitled to benefits and at the same time support their integration into the labour market. The institutional transformation of basic income support for jobseekers over the past two decades has been characterised by an ongoing struggle to find a politically enforceable and socially accepted balance between its two objectives. This change has not been driven solely by political changes but has always been influenced by exogenous factors in all phases of the development history of basic income support – the constitutional, development and crisis phases. The balancing of labour market and participation policy elements remains even in the future a socio-political dialogue between different interests that can never be concluded. However, if the field of tension leads to contradictory political signals, the acceptance and future viability of basic benefits for jobseekers are at stake." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © Duncker & Humblot) ((en))

Cite article

Gellermann, J., Penz, R. & Ramos Lobato, P. (2025): Im Spannungsfeld von Arbeitsmarkt- und Teilhabepolitik - 20 Jahre institutioneller Wandel der Grundsicherung für Arbeitsuchende. In: Sozialer Fortschritt, Vol. 74, No. 11/12, p. 619–638. DOI:10.3790/sfo.2025.1471501