EUROPP – Despite low unemployment, large sections of German society remain at risk from poverty

In the early 2000s, the then SPD-Green government in Germany implemented a package of policies known as ‘Agenda 2010’, which aimed to reform the country’s welfare system and labour market. Stefan Selke writes on the impact of these reforms ten years later. He argues that while the unemployment rate in Germany is currently low by historical standards, the picture is not quite as positive as it appears, with substantial numbers of German citizens still at risk from poverty.

So far, Germany has not learned the lesson from the assessment of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations in 2011. The final report of the council articulated criticism on 37 issues of German social and labour policy, emphasising the human right to social security, which according to the UN council is still being disregarded in Germany. The level of Hartz IV benefits has been criticised on the grounds that it does not guarantee a reasonable standard of living, among other critical issues. Despite the demands of the council, Germany still lacks an appropriate and extensive programme for the reduction of poverty against the background of human rights.

Instead, German society is relying more and more on pre-modern charity systems of poverty relief such as food banks. However, these systems have practical limitations – indeed, some of the first food banks are now suffering from food shortages. They have chosen to face this form of austerity by suspending access to users for certain periods of time (up to one year).

Will Germany learn from its mistakes? Or will political creativity limit itself to inventing more instruments of social degeneration? The kind of story we will be able to tell in the next ten years remains to be seen.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at  EUROPP – Despite low unemployment, large sections of German society remain at risk from poverty.