According to statistics, in 2009 more than 90% of all Lebanese citizens were 'living on German social welfare.' Among representatives of Albanian nationality, this figure turned out to be completely unrealistic, reaching 120%! Federal Minister of Labor Ursula von der Leyen was then forced to announce that the authorities intend to fundamentally change the situation. 'We will not allow immigration into our social system,' the politician stated decisively.
However, it seems that even a year after this statement, practically nothing changed. The statisticians simply stopped calculating the number of unemployed Albanians and Lebanese. As they say, due to 'the impossibility of accurate calculations.'
According to the latest data published last week by the Federal Employment Agency (BA) in Nuremberg, 17.6% of all foreign residents of Germany are recipients of state benefits. Meanwhile, the number of 'German social welfare recipients' is only 6.9%. Particularly high is the unemployment rate (remember – Albanians and Lebanese were not considered) among Iraqis (64%), Afghans (52%), Pakistani citizens (47%), as well as Ghana and Syria (41% each). At the same time, the largest number of foreigners in the FRG are traditionally Turkish citizens – 1.629 million. Among them, 391,000 people are unemployed, which equals 24% of their total number.
A positive point is the fact that more and more citizens from CIS countries are refusing financial assistance from the state. Among Ukrainians, the quota of 'social welfare recipients' decreased over the year by 3% to 29% (36 out of 124,000 are unemployed). The figures are even better for Russians – 27% of 191,000 (minus 4%) and Kazakhs – 28% of 51,000 (minus 5%). It seems that the hardest-working foreigners in Germany are Croats (7% unemployed) and Thai citizens (10%).
According to statistical data from the Central Register of Foreign Citizens, 6,753,621 foreigners live legally in the Federal Republic. At the same time, 1,188,411 people do not have a permanent workplace.
As the Federal Employment Agency now diplomatically states, experts still do not believe that foreigners in the FRG simply do not want to work. According to the agency's press secretary Ani Huth, foreign citizens do become unemployed more often because 'they are less likely to be part of the core workforce with a full-time position.'
Vladimir Gushchin.
