Social Code, Book II – Basic Cost-of-Living Benefits for Jobseekers
Sozialgesetzbuch Zweites Buch (SGB II) – Grundsicherung für Arbeitsuchende

Social Code, Book II – Basic Cost-of-Living Benefits for Jobseekers (Zweites Buch Sozialgesetzbuch – Grundsicherung für Ar-beitsuchende) – (Art. 1 of the Act of 24 December 2003, last amended by Art. 6. Para. 9 of the Act of 19 August 2007

The purpose and the objective of the new basic cost-of-living benefits for jobseekers is to strengthen employable assistance seekers’ own responsibility and to make a contribution so that they can earn a living from their own funds and efforts and not have to resort to basic cost-of-living benefits. They are to be supported in starting or continuing their gainful employment. Against the background of these objectives, the Act stipulates that employable assistance seekers below 25 years of age are to be placed in employment or training, or that they are to be offered an opportunity to gain work experience. Young people are to be introduced primarily into a training situation. For this purpose, additional integration benefits (e. g. opportunities to gain work experience, other benefits – such as debt counselling, addict counselling, psychosocial care or child care – and initiation benefits) in addition to active employment promotion benefits pursuant to the Social Code – Book III – Promotion of Employment (SGB III) are available to the personal case managers employed with the providers of basic cost-of-living benefits for jobseekers.

Equal rights for men and women are to be applied as a consistent principle. Basic social security benefits are to especially be orientated to the principle that

• the need for assistance is to be avoided or abolished through gainful employment, the duration of the need for assistance shortened or the amount of assistance required reduced,
• the employability of the individual in need of assistance is to be retained, improved or restored,
• gender-specific disadvantages of employable individuals in need are to be counteracted,
• family-specific living conditions of employable individuals in need who raise children or who provide care to family members in need of care, are to be taken into account,
• specific disadvantages of individuals with disabilities are to be overcome.

The basic cost-of-living benefits or jobseekers include benefits which are intended to end or reduce their need for assistance, especially through their integration into the labour market and by providing cost-of-living assistance.