A developed system of social assistance is one of the features of the "social market economy" in Germany. This system is based on the postulate that society, through its authorized representative - the "social state" - is responsible for each of its members, regardless of the reasons why that person found themselves in trouble. Therefore, in the corridors of the Sozialämter (social welfare offices) one can meet a wide variety of people - fathers of large families, single mothers, divorced women with children and widows, the physically and mentally disabled, and even outright alcoholics and drug addicts. There are also déclassé individuals from affluent backgrounds, those who were perfectly fine just yesterday - ruined aristocrats, bankrupt businessmen. Foreigners stand out noticeably in appearance and speech - people from Black Africa and Southeast Asia, Arabs, Turks, Yugoslavs, Albanians. According to statistics, foreigners account for 23% of Sozialamt clients, with their share of the population being about 10%.
However, you will not see unemployed people in these corridors - even though there are 4.5 million of them in Germany. Those who have managed to work for at least six months will receive benefits from another agency - the Arbeitsamt (employment office). You also will not find homeless people in the Sozialamt (there are about 30,000 of them in a country of 82 million). Without a registered place of residence, they are not within the purview of local social welfare offices and can only rely on private and public charity.
According to federal law, all those in need have the right to social assistance - not only those unable to work or those who have not yet accumulated six months of employment, but also those who work, although their income, recalculated per family member, may be below the established subsistence minimum. Pensioners receiving meager pensions can also apply for help. In short, any person legally residing in Germany who finds himself in need can come here, and the Sozialamt is obliged to help him in one way or another.
This last circumstance - the possibility of receiving help not only in the complete absence of income, but even when income is insufficient - is naturally not something officials seek to publicize. Many native Germans do not know about it either. Others know but are ashamed to extend a hand. According to some estimates, at least a third of those entitled to assistance do not apply for it. The status of a "social welfare recipient" in Germany is, to put it mildly, not prestigious. If, for example, you introduce yourself as such to a landlord, do not be surprised to hear: "I am sorry, but I cannot rent you the apartment."
Foreigners who have a poor command of German and communicate mainly with their own kind are less sensitive to public opinion and usually calmly take advantage of what the law entitles them to. Sometimes they even abuse it: there are tricksters who drive up to the social welfare office in prestigious cars and take off diamond gold rings from their fingers at the entrance. Of course, such people are very few. After all, as a rule, people come to Germany from countries with a much lower standard of living and are, especially at first, far worse off than Germans. This primarily explains why the proportion of social assistance recipients among foreigners is significantly higher than among citizens: 8.5% versus 2.8%.
What is the structure of social assistance, its main items? First of all, there is a monthly "subsistence" allowance. It is meant to cover expenses for food, hygiene items, household and personal necessities (naturally, cheap ones). Disabled people, the sick, and pregnant women receive supplements to the allowance. Every "social welfare recipient" receives health insurance, which entitles them to free (mostly) medical care and free (with few exceptions) medications. It is supplemented by insurance in case of a need for third-party care. Finally, and this is the most substantial item, the social welfare office pays for the recipient's rent and heating, while the landlord must purchase the heating radiator. Electricity and telephone must be paid for out of one's own pocket. However, the subscription fee for these is reduced, and the poor are exempt from the radio and television fee altogether. In total, the maintenance of a childless married couple costs the German state more than 1,100 euros per month. (It is clear that this money is taken out of the pockets of working taxpayers.)
Special mention should be made of families with children. For each child up to the age of two (and in some states, up to three) years, the mother receives 300 euros per month. In addition, there are the so-called "child benefits" - another 154 euros for each of the first three children and 179 euros for the fourth and each subsequent child. These payments are made until the age of 27, if the "child" lives with the parents and does not work (meaning that he is receiving a secondary and then a higher education).
In addition to the allowance, each client of the Sozialamt receives money twice a year to buy clothing, for winter and summer, from 340 to 420 euros, depending on gender and age.
Upon first moving into an apartment, assistance is provided for the purchase of furniture, electrical appliances, bedding, curtains, and the like. Of course, furniture and electrical appliances (stove, refrigerator, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, television) are only paid for second-hand, purchased at second-hand shops or at charity organization warehouses.
Assistance is also provided in difficult life situations - for accompanying the sick, funerals, and so on.
Care for children is differentiated by age. For toddlers, picture books, a modest set of toys, and a tricycle are paid for. When a child is enrolled in school, funds are allocated for the purchase of a schoolbag, notebooks, and pens. Every year, necessary textbooks are provided free of charge. Sports uniforms are paid for - inexpensive new or second-hand. When a class goes to a summer camp or an excursion, parents pay for children from well-off families, while the same social welfare office pays for the children of "social welfare recipients". Large families - with three or more children - have the right to an annual free voucher for all members to a sanatorium or a rest home.
I repeat: social assistance is used not only by citizens of the Federal Republic of Germany, but also by foreigners legally residing in the country. Immigrants sometimes even find themselves in a privileged position. For example, persons granted political asylum, as well as ethnic German resettlers and Jewish immigrants from the former USSR, receive assistance immediately and unconditionally, while local residents receive it only upon their motivated request and when no other solution can be found.
What standard of living does social assistance provide? Assessments of it are mixed. Several years ago, German sociologists conducted an experiment: a group of volunteers from among local Germans were offered to live on an amount equal to social assistance. About half of the subjects dropped out after a month. The impression of most of the rest was: "No, one can't live like that!" Indeed: counting every euro, not being able to sit with friends or a girlfriend in a restaurant, go to a rock concert, let alone buy a fashionable little thing you liked or take a trip to Thailand... Officials of the social welfare office, for their part, remind us: social assistance is given not to live well, but to survive.
And "our people," former Soviets, on the same money live without care. How? They go for groceries to cheap supermarkets or municipal stores for the poor, buy clothes at flea markets and warehouses of charitable organizations, where prices are rock-bottom. As a result, they are fed, clothed, and shod, and at family celebrations the tables are laden with delicacies. And from time to time, having saved a bit of money, they visit their native places or go on multi-day excursions around Italy, Spain, and other European countries. Occasionally they also spend a week or two in Mallorca, the Canaries, or Malta. And when Viktyuk, Kalyagin, or Raikin bring their plays to Germany, or when Freindlich, Gaft, Elena Yakovleva, Tatyana Vasilyeva come, or Zhvanetsky or Galkin perform, they lay out 30-50 euros for a ticket.
The system of social assistance currently in force in Germany took shape on the material base created by the "economic miracle" of the 1950s-70s of the last century. The country prospered, literally basking in contentment. There was plenty of everything - jobs, incomes, tax revenues, and accordingly, opportunities for social payments.
Those glorious times are long gone. In recent years, the economy has been growing by 1.5-2.5% per year, or even stagnating. Unemployment stubbornly remains at 9-11% of the total workforce. Meanwhile, more than 3% of the population continue to regularly receive the monthly "subsistence living" benefit and other social payments. The annual increase in the number of "welfare recipients" is about 7%. Social assistance expenditures are one of the largest items in the German budget. They are comparable to expenditures on defense, or on maintaining public order and security, or on public administration.
To cover such gigantic expenditures, the government is forced to constantly increase taxes levied on workers - they already absorb up to 40 percent or more of earnings. High taxes, in turn, undermine incentives to work - after all deductions, a low-paid worker or employee receives almost as much per month as an unemployed "welfare recipient."
Yet these very people often also take on side jobs - but, as they say here, on the black market, i.e., illegally. Especially often, women employed in domestic work or the service sector.
For employers, illegal workers are more advantageous: they are paid less than registered workers, and no taxes or insurance are paid for them. But it is also more advantageous for the "welfare recipient" himself to work on the black market: he retains his benefit in doing so, and as a result, raises his standard of living. The state loses out, losing more than a hundred billion euros a year from such practices. And this means the very source of social payments is depleted.
If illegal workers are detected, they are fined and temporarily deprived of social assistance. But this does not happen often.
Politicians and the public are seeking ways out of the current situation. Economists, sociologists, and psychologists propose various incentive methods designed to involve social assistance recipients in public production. Officials, however, prefer simple, obvious measures - reducing and then withdrawing benefits in case of refusal of offered work, a thorough check of need (in particular, through surprise home visits or studying vehicle registration data).
De facto, social payments have already been shrinking for a long time. Seven years ago, they stopped paying extra "for age" to persons over 65. Cash assistance for the purchase of furniture and electrical appliances has been cut several times. There is no longer any talk of the "increased need for spiritual food" of persons in creative professions (and that was taken into account, too).
How do "our people" react to all these innovations? They regret, of course, that the good times, which those who arrived earlier remember, are already behind. They feel that recession, inflation, and rising prices are quietly licking the butter off a slice of bread. But they say: "Thank you for that. After all, we did not work for this country for a single day, and it took full care of us. And where we worked hard for 30, 40, or even 50 years, today we would probably not have been able to make ends meet."
P.S. Since January 1, 2003, under the new law, all "welfare recipients" over 65 have been transferred to the so-called "basic security" - a kind of mini-pension for the poor, equal to the former social assistance. And they have leaned on young people and middle-aged people with doubled energy. According to estimates of social services, at least a quarter of them can and should be "drawn into the ranks of the employed."