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Germany tackles abuses by jobless
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BONN--It's an old trick: Chug a beer just before the job interview. That faint whiff of alcohol on your breath all but ensures that the job goes to someone else.
Some Germans routinely undertake such ploys to retain their monthly unemployment benefits while going through the motions of an obligatory job search. A country that prides itself on industry and discipline has long tolerated the abuse of its well-funded safety net for needy laborers.
But now Germans suddenly seem a lot less generous, and many want to change the old ways. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder railed last month against what he called the "lazy" but able-bodied welfare recipients. His comments have ignited an emotional debate about kicking alleged freeloaders off the unemployment rolls.
"There is no right to laziness in our society," Mr. Schroeder said. "Whoever rejects a reasonable job offer when they can work must reckon with sanctions."
Mr. Schroeder's remarks reflect an awakening among the political elite and a wide swath of the population that Germany's labor welfare system is broken and in need of drastic repair. With nearly 4 million workers registered as unemployed, Germans are wondering why more than 1.5 million jobs remain unfilled. What is more, they question why more than a million foreign workers have received visas to take up jobs for which no qualified German can be found.
The government has the means to penalize workers who refuse to accept suitable jobs, such as suspending welfare payments, and it has tightened up a bit on slackers. The movement is gaining some momentum. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry is demanding cuts in benefits to younger workers. Conservative politicians want to abolish the entire system of long-term unemployment aid.
But the issue is so politically sensitive that the crackdown so far has been modest at best. Any talk of a welfare overhaul ignites explosive political divisions with labor leaders and social activists fighting to preserve provisions that have been in place for nearly three-quarters of a century. But Mr. Schroeder is convinced that Germans recognize the need for change, and he challenges voters to measure him in next year's election on his record in fighting unemployment.
The depth of the furor is showing up in a raft of recent studies and statistics. An exhaustive analysis this year by the Bonn-based Institute for Economic and Social Research shows that 20 percent of the jobless population could work but has carved out a better quality of life than would be possible with entry-level pay. The Allensbach polling institute found in a study in February that "the population increasingly had the impression that many jobless did not want to work." Two-thirds thought the system was riddled with "much abuse."
"For some, it makes no economic sense to work," said Meinhard Miegel, director of the Institute for Economic and Social Research in Bonn.
In a country that after 10 years is still struggling to absorb its former Communist East, the questions of welfare reform are exceedingly complex. Geography is partly responsible for the country's inability to match unfilled jobs with out-of-work Germans. Most unemployment in Western Germany exists in the rust-belt cities of the north, while the labor shortages lie in the service and high-tech meccas in the south.
At the same time, the high-tech and biotech industries, particularly in Eastern Germany, have created a demand for workers with unique skills. To fill the gap, Mr. Schroeder last year created special "green card" work visas just to recruit foreign computer specialists.
Whatever the complexities, critics contend that the apparent strains on the system only underscore the need for corrective measures. "I try to argue with workers so that they realize that an entry-level job in the private sector can lead to a better job in the future," said Thomas Gerlitzki, a job counselor in the vast government unemployment office in central Frankfurt. The city's unemployment office currently lists about 12,500 unfilled jobs and 36,000 unemployed.
Created in 1927, unemployment insurance has sheltered generations through periods of hardship. In the recession of 1993, it absorbed hundreds of thousands of people that industry laid off. And to those too old to find a new job, its provisions give a kind of unofficial early retirement. It also pays winter allowances to construction workers and recruitment subsidies to start-up firms.
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