The number of unemployment benefit recipients who are from 'crisis countries' has increased by almost a quarter
According to statistics from the Federal Employment Agency, every sixteenth unemployed person registered at job centers in the Federal Republic is currently a refugee from a 'crisis country'. As 'Russkaya Germaniya' notes, a year ago only every twentieth unemployment benefit recipient was such.
The total number of people in this statistic is now 435,800, which is 82,500 more than a year ago. About 66,000 of them are from war-torn Syria, although a year ago this figure did not exceed 36,600. Approximately 38,000 of today's 'welfare recipients' in Germany are refugees from Iraq, another 27,000 are citizens of Afghanistan. According to the Federal Employment Agency, it is increasingly difficult for people from Eritrea, Somalia, and Afghanistan living in Germany to find work, so they are increasingly forced to seek financial assistance from the German state.
According to experts, this negative trend related to the inability to find work for refugees will unfortunately continue in the near future. Thus, during the next year, the BA leadership expects another 130,000 refugees to register who will receive unemployment benefits. That is why the head of the agency, Frank-Jürgen Weise, intends to hire almost two thousand new employees to work in job centers. In addition, in 2016, the Employment Agency branches will involve about 900 independent mediators who will try to integrate refugees into the German labor market.
Experts' forecasts, however, are far from optimistic. According to the leadership of the Federal Employment Agency, at least 90% of all refugees who will receive asylum in Germany in the coming months will be forced to finance their lives exclusively through the Hartz IV social benefit.