Fourth Act on the Amendment of the Social Code Book III – Im-provement of the Qualification and Employment Opportunities of Young People
Viertes Gesetz zur Änderung des SGB III – Verbesserung der Qualifizierung und Beschäftigungschancen von jüngeren Menschen
Fourth Act on the Amendment of the Social Code Book III – Im-provement of the Qualification and Employment Opportunities of Young People
The Fourth Act on the Amendment of Social Code Book III – Improvement of the Qualification and Employment Opportunities of Young People – came into force on 1 October 2007, and aims to give new opportunities for the labour market to the young unemployed and those in search of an apprenticeship, as well as the long-term unemployed with problems finding a job. In future, there will be two new employment subsidies for the improvement of the qualification and employment opportunities of young people and people with special problems finding a job:
- Integration and Qualification Subsidy for Young People under the Age of 25
The Integration Subsidy is targeted at younger employees with a vocational qualification; the Qualification Subsidy, on the other hand, is targeted at those without a vocational qualification. Both services – the Integration and the Qualification subsidy – are defined in the Act on the Promotion of Employment (Social Code Book III), as well as in the right to Basic Cost-of-Living Benefits for Jobseekers (Social Code Book II), and are valid until 31 December 2010.
Furthermore, the promise from the Training Pact (Ausbildungspakt): to promote 40,000 placements in the Initial Qualification of Young People (Einstiegsqualifizierung Jugendlicher, EQJ) for the coming three years is being redeemed. Due to its success, the Initial Qualification of Young People is being adopted as an employer service in the employment promotion legislation. The support prerequisites that were previously regulated in the government’s EQJ programme are mainly of the same content in the legal regulations. Furthermore, in accordance with the promises of the Training Pact, the opportunity for social education supervision and organisational support of company vocational training and vocational training preparation is being introduced.
- Subsidy for the Improvement of the Employment Opportunities of People with Placement Problems (JobPerspektive)
This employment subsidy offers people a new perspective for work who have no chance of being recruited on the general labour market in the foreseeable future: A special employer subsidy is being introduced for the long-term unemployed with special recruitment problems who are in need of help, are capable of working and are over the age of 18. The prerequisite for the subsidy is generally that at least six months have passed in which the person in need of help has actively, but unsuccessfully, attempted to find recruitment on the labour market and that integration in the general labour market is not expected to take place within the next 24 months. This applied to around 100,000 people at the end of 2007.
For a transitional period up to 31 March 2008, the employment subsidy is being applied in a modified form due to a financial aid examination on the EU level. The impacts of the subsidy instrument on the labour market and the federal budget are being examined for the years 2008 to 2010, and the German Bundestag will receive a report on this by 31 December 2011.
