On 4 October 2022, a conference on the new Citizens’ income (Bürgergeld), to be introduced in Germany as of January 2023, was organised by the Job Centre Frankfurt. The Citizens’ income will replace the current system of means-tested benefits for the unemployed and in-work poor (colloquially known as “Hartz IV benefits”), which have long been subject to heated debates with a view to the pressure exercised on the poorest of families by strict conditionality, sanctions, and “labour market reintegration at all costs”.
At the conference, Christina Hießl, lead researcher of WorkYP’s German unit, led a working group on “The Citizens’ Income’s Contribution to Combatting Poverty” together with MP Dr. Wolfgang Strengmann-Kuhn, who is in charge of finalising the draft law in the German parliament.
Download the documentation of the conference here.