Around 604,000 Ukrainians receive basic benefits for job seekers

Former SPD leader Andrea Nahles has only been in charge of the Federal Employment Agency since August. A central task of the Nuremberg authority is currently the placement of hundreds of thousands of refugees with companies willing to hire them. In October, “according to preliminary and non-extrapolated information, the BA counted 604,000 Ukrainian nationals on basic security for job seekers,” as the authority announced in a data overview on the Ukraine flight.

Among them are "399,000 people of working age (employable beneficiaries) and 204,000 non-employable beneficiaries (usually children)". Before the Russian attack on Ukraine in February, 17,000 Ukrainians were living in Germany with basic security. Since the war, their number has increased by 587,000. The BA writes that with these numbers it must be assumed that “not all refugees were recorded by the job centers” in October and that the data changed later.

But according to the authority headed by Nahles, “many Ukrainians have now been able to find employment. In August 2022 - more recent results are not yet available - according to preliminary extrapolated data, 109,000 Ukrainians were in employment subject to social security contributions," it says. Before the start of the war in February, only "57,000 people with Ukrainian nationality were employed subject to social security contributions". "The plus of 51,000 can essentially be attributed to the war refugees."

In addition to the employees subject to social security contributions, around 25,000 Ukrainians were only in marginal employment in August – 17,000 more than before the start of the war. The bottom line is that there are now 68,000 more Ukrainian workers than before the wave of refugees.

In German statistics, however, not all people of working age who are unemployed are considered “unemployed”. These are only those who state at the job centers that they are directly available to a company willing to hire them if they offer a job or training position. According to the BA, 197,000 Ukrainians were registered as “unemployed” in October. For the first time since the beginning of the war, the number of unemployed Ukrainians fell in October – by 8,000 compared to September.

According to Nahles' authority, this is "on the one hand because significantly fewer new Ukrainian refugees are now being registered. On the other hand, registered Ukrainian refugees are increasingly taking part in integration and language courses. During participation they are not available for the labor market and consequently are not counted as unemployed.”

In October, 247,000 Ukrainians were "registered but not unemployed" at the job centers. In the case of 96,000, the reason is “participation in an integration course”; for 41,000 the reason was “school, professional or university education”, and 22,000 “to look after children or relatives”.

The refugees from Ukraine - three quarters are women - and the approximately 35,000 non-Ukrainians who lived with a permanent residence permit in the country attacked by Russia and fled to Germany, receive a protection permit in this country without going through an asylum procedure. Since June 1, they have been allowed to switch to the regular basic security scheme, which is also given to local unemployed people and recognized asylum seekers.

A fire has broken out in a shelter for Ukrainian refugees in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said during a visit to the accommodation: "It is important that something like this is not tolerated."

Source: WORLD

Despite the additional Ukrainians affected, unemployment fell slightly in October as part of the usual "autumn pick-up" - by 43,000 to 2.4 million. But that was 65,000 more than in October last year. BA says unemployment last month would have been 2,254,000 not 2,442,000 had it not been for the flight effect from Ukrainians.

Nahles: “Overall, the labor market remains robust, with employment in particular continuing to grow. However, the consequences of the economic uncertainties are visible: More companies are preparing for possible short-time work and reducing their demand for new staff.

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