The legacy of the Hartz reforms? : the Great Coalition and the labour market

Abstract

"In the German Federal elections of 2009, labour market policy was once more one of the most important issues. As the results of the election show, the electorate did not trust the Grand Coalition to have the right answers to the economic crisis with a view to creating jobs and saving people from poverty. In the field of labour market policy, no one expected comprehensive reform from the Grand Coalition because, when its members assumed office in 2005, the so-called Hartz Reforms had just taken affect. These were rightly seen as a caesura in German social policy of the postwar period as they contained comprehensive structural reforms of the Federal Employment Agency and new instruments of active labour market policy, but above all the introduction of basic income support for persons capable of work but in need of support via Book II of the Social Code (SGB II) which was generally known in the public sphere in the abbreviated form 'Hartz IV'. The aim of amalgamating unemployment benefit and social security into one benefit was to do away with the existence of two parallel welfare benefits for the same clientele as well as the various shunting stations between the two welfare systems. Through these reforms, activation, responsibility of those concerned for themselves, and the prioritisation of employment replaced the former welfare logic. It was nothing less than a shift to a new 'activation paradigm' in labour market policy. In this connection, new support instruments were introduced for those receiving benefits under Book II of the Social Code (SGB-II-Leistungsempfänger) and for those receiving unemployment benefit I (ALG I) as an insurance benefit under Book III of the Social Code (SGB III); but at the same time the rules under which an unemployed person would be expected to take a job were tightened up as were sanctions. Along with this, new provider institutions and organisational structures were created in the form of the 'ARGEn' - joint agencies of the local authorities and the employment offices of the Federal Employment Agency - and the so-called 'Optionskommunen', local authorities choosing to be the sole institution responsible for administering benefits under SGB II." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Steinke, J. (2010): Das Erbe der Hartz-Reformen? Die Große Koalition und der Arbeitsmarkt. In: E. Jesse & R. Sturm (Hrsg.) (2010): Bilanz der Bundestagswahl 2009 : Voraussetzungen, Ergebnisse, Folgen, p. 451-467.