The Employers’ President, Rainer Dulger, is demanding that the Federal Government swiftly implement further tightening of basic social security. Dulger told Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland that while the Federal Government has made initial important steps, it now needs to decisively continue the reform. He stated that a strong welfare state provides security for people when they need help, but it must also demand personal responsibility and consistently fight abuse.
Dulger asserted that anyone who works more must also have significantly more money. However, he criticized that the current welfare state often makes it unnecessarily difficult for people to work their way out of basic social security. He pointed out that if little is left over when earning an extra euro, something fundamentally is wrong. The head of the BDA called for the Federal Government to submit a draft law reforming the rules for additional income this year at the latest. He said they require less deduction for higher earnings, simpler rules, and a better transition from state support to independent employment.
Furthermore, the Bundesvereinigung der Arbeitgeberverbände outlined additional demands in a position paper cited by RND. The paper calls for the complete abolition of the grace period for housing costs. It also suggests that the costs of accommodation (KdU) should be reduced for so-called job refusers. According to the BDA, the linkage of the asset limit to age should also be removed. This was one of the changes included in the reform from Bürgergeld to Grundsicherung. Currently, someone aged 51 may have 20,000 euros in savings. The BDA stated that someone who possesses such wealth is not considered needy.
Other demands include expanding the acceptable commute time to three hours daily for a full-time position, abolishing the municipal job centers, and improving data exchange between institutions, even through the use of artificial intelligence.
