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To: MinorityRepublican
Yeah, and another 7% of the entire population collects Hartz IV , less than $400 / month ...

... and yet another ~5% of the entire population works at a 400€ job (can't find info in english - make work type of job - "geringfügig Beschäftigung ~ slight Employment")

IOW add roughly half of the Hartz IV and all of the 400€ crowd BACK into the statistik for the real number ... (roughly 6.8 million additional unemployed) = ~9.76 Million unemployed or ~ 23% Unemployment.

4 posted on 01/03/2012 10:27:58 PM PST by An.American.Expatriate (Here's my strategy on the War against Terrorism: We win, they lose. - with apologies to R.R.)
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To: An.American.Expatriate
I think you have your numbers mixed up. Hartz IV is the name of a reform which led to the creation of Arbeitslosengeld ALG I and ALG II as well as the so-called Grundsicherung. ALG I is unemployment insurance for those who recently lost their jobs, while ALG II are unemployment benefits for the long-time unemployed. Grundsicherung under Hartz IV is assistance for the working poor, meaning that if you earn less (no minimum wage in Germany) than you would get in unemployment benefits, the state makes up for the difference. The vast majority (i.e. 80-90%) of those who get Grundsicherung do so only because they have to support children.

So there are 7% unemployed who get Hartz IV plus another 3% workers (approx 1.3 million) who fall under Hartz IV Grundsicherung, which is ~10%. Plus another 1-1.5% (around half a million) who receive benefits while being retrained.

Which adds up to half your number of 23%, namely around 11.5%.

Marginal employment up to 400€, so-called "minijobs" (jobs that don't fall under social insurance requirements, which makes them popular) can fall under two categories. Either it is real underemployment, but then it is already counted as unemployed under ALG I / II or underemployed under Grundsicherung.

In the other case it is the part-time job of a wife where the husband is the family's main breadwinner or the second job of someone who is already (fully) employed (approx. one third of all minijobs). In these cases it's not counted as un- or underemployment, because most of these employees are not looking for a (better) job.

So adding ALL 400€-jobbers is nonsense, as one third already have a job. A number of others are already receiving pensions and just want some extra spending money. Most of the rest don't want better jobs, as they have other priorities (raising children etc.). But even if you're generous and say that part of the 400€-crowd falls under the underemployment criteria, you're still way off your 23%.


5 posted on 01/04/2012 3:37:34 AM PST by wolf78 (Inflation is a form of taxation, too. Cranky Libertarian - equal opportunity offender.)
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