The Dovish Turnaround: Germany’s Social Benefit Reform and Job Findings

Abstract

"On the labor markets, recent decades were characterised by structural supply-side reforms in many countries. Following its hawkish reforms from the 2000s, Germany has recently made a dovish turnaround. Conditions in basic income support for unemployed became more generous. Before, a temporary moratorium on sanctions had been imposed, providing a unique policy shift. We analyze the short-run consequences for job findings, building on large administrative data and a novel control group approach. The moratorium dampened job findings by four percent and the subsequent benefit reform by almost six percent in the first year. Other factors played a still larger role for the recent weakening of job findings." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Weber, E. (2024): The Dovish Turnaround: Germany’s Social Benefit Reform and Job Findings. (IAB-Discussion Paper 07/2024), Nürnberg, 23 p. DOI:10.48720/IAB.DP.2407