A Trip to the German Welfare Office

A friend of mine is between jobs now, so I thought I'd accompany him to the welfare office as he applies for benefits. The office in Düsseldorf is called the Jobcenter (in English, of course), which is supposed to show you it's all about getting people back to work, not subsidizing layabouts.

German documentaries had led me to expect a crowded, loud, chaotic maelstrom of frustrated citizens and exasperated bureaucrats, something like Wiseman's Welfare. No soap: the Job Center is housed in a massive, clean, modern building, with freshly-renovated endless white corridors and comfortable blue fabric seats. I was expecting some urban social flair in the form of quaint posters about child abuse, alcoholism, and workplace safety, but the walls were nearly clean. The employees were quite friendly by German standards. You're issued a small paper ticket with a number on it. A Sachbearbeiter (SB) (specialist) comes and announces the next number, crossing it off a laminated display of 0-100. This seemed rather labor-intensive -- what about those infamous red 'Now Serving' signs you expect in every government office? The clients, as they're called, didn't look particularly down-and-out; they would fit in at any middle-class shopping center. About half of them seemed to be foreign, half looked German. They didn't look angry or despairing, just mildly bored. The wait to sign up for 'new customers', as they were called was about 30 minutes.

My friend got the standard package of benefits: a housing subsidy sufficient to keep you in a small apartment (you get to choose which one, as long as it's not too big), a couple of hundred euros as a (very modest) base benefit, and €5 for every job application you send out -- the expectation is that you should send out at least 10 per month. If you want something extra -- a new suit, vacation -- you have to fill out a special form asking for it. You also sign what's called an 'integration contract' in which you promise to try to find work and they promise to help you. You can just waltz right in there and they sign you up -- only later do they check to see whether you really need benefits. After you sign up for the bennies, you're then transferred to another SB who sizes up your potential on the job market and asks what sort of work you'd be willing to take. Depending on your needs, you might be sent on to other SB's who will sign you up for health insurance or co-ordinate schools.

A few caveats: (1) this was an office in Düsseldorf, one of the most prosperous places in Germany; (2) German unemployment is low right now; and (3) lots of 'ordinary' people (students, musicians between gigs, political party leaders) get some form of benefit temporarily throughout their lives. In all, the procedure was professional and the atmosphere much the same as you might expect at any German government office (and noticeably cleaner and quieter than most American government offices). I left thinking that although I'd rather not have to sign up for welfare in Germany, there are certainly worse fates.

Comments

[ilse]

Well the reality of ALG2 (or HartzIV) is not quite so alarming. A friend of mine claims it and he gets his apartment all paid for (some 500 euros, including heating and hot water). He did accept a job he was offered - kind of work-for-your-dole, but the job was appropriate for his education, and at no time was he asked to rake leaves or pick up rubbish in the park.
In England, by the way, when I lived there until 2001, the benefit was named "jobseeker's allowance" - so not paying for unearned leisure is not a specifically German thing.

[Junger Gott]

@ Kai:

Contrary to what you wrote, It has to be ALG II (Harzt IV) since that's what you have to go to the Jobcenter for. ALG I would be paid from the Arbeitsagentur.

[Karsten Ramelow]

What Andrew described here is Hartz IV!

[Ney]

That's not so Duesseldorf-specific. I visited a Jobcenter in Essen several times this year. The building, the ALG-II clients (Kunden), staff behaviour, and the atmosphere were quite as in your description.

[Johannes]

The description of what the friend received does not sound like "Arbeitslosengeld 1". This is usually only based on your last income (about 60% of the latter's "netto" value, i.e. after taxes and obligatory social and health insurances) and not split into costs for the apartment etc. (One can get some additional help for job application costs). But I am certainly no expert, as I have had only a mercifully brief experience with ALG 1 some years ago and non with ALG 2.

[Kai]

Another caveat: your friend probably applied for "Arbeitslosengeld 1". This is paid for the first year of unemployment and benefits are decent, they are trying to help you find work fitting your career choice and they only get angry and dock you pay if you don't show up at the Arbeitsagentur when asked to or refuse to apply for reasonable job offers. You might even get some free courses to aquire new skills which might help you find work.

The nasty stuff happens after one year when you get "Arbeitslosengeld 2", which is far less than ALG1 and they start treating you as a hopeless case. You have to accept any, ANY job offer or they take away 30% of the ALG2 which is supposed to be the minimum amount you need for living...so you will actually be below that.