More than a million Ukrainians fled to Germany from the war. Only a few of them found work. Is it that Ukrainian refugees can live without work, receiving benefits from the state, or are there other reasons?
For the Prime Minister of the Federal State of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer, everything is crystal clear. “If we say that Germany is a country of migrants, then it is Ukrainians, for example, who can most easily be integrated into the labor market. But only 20 percent of them work because they don’t need it,” said a politician from the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU). ) in mid-February.
Similar voices are heard from other parties. According to the Social Democrat, member of the Landrat of Nordhausen in Thuringia, Matthias Jendrike, “too comfortable conditions” were created for Ukrainians in Germany. “It’s more comfortable to lie on the sofa than to attend German language courses,” the politician said in an interview with one of the German newspapers.
6 billion euros for benefits
Refugees from Ukraine have the right in Germany to receive so-called “money for citizens” (Bürgergeld) – a state benefit for people who do not have a job. Single people receive 563 euros per month. Married couples – 506 euros per person.
Parents also receive a child benefit – from 357 to 471 euros per month per child, depending on their age. In addition, the state covers the costs of health insurance, housing and partly utilities, allocates money for the purchase of home furniture and school supplies, and pays for language courses. According to Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner, the 2024 budget will allocate between 5.5 and 6 billion euros for benefits for Ukrainians in Germany alone.
What about help in other European countries?
According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), there were about six million registered refugees from Ukraine fleeing the war in Europe. Germany had the most (1.13 million), followed by Poland (956,000), Czech Republic (381,000), UK (253,000), Spain (192,000), Italy (168,000) and the Netherlands (149,000) ).
Poland only pays out aid for the first three months, after which refugees from Ukraine are largely left to fend for themselves. In the Czech Republic, after five months they receive the equivalent of 130 euros per month. In the UK there is even less government assistance.
About two-thirds of Ukrainian refugees work in Poland and the Czech Republic, and more than half work in Great Britain. In Germany – only every fifth. These figures are contained in a study prepared by sociologist Dietrich Trenhardt for the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in November 2023. However, a scientist at the University of Münster concluded that this was not related to the payment of government benefits to refugees. Because more Ukrainian refugees work in Denmark than in Germany – 78 percent, also in Sweden and the Netherlands (more than 50%). And these countries also provide long-term government benefits.
The study shows that particularly high numbers of refugees are employed in countries where there is easy access to the labor market. Poland, the Czech Republic, Denmark, the Netherlands and Ireland have simple digital procedures that allow all legal and social issues to be resolved with one application. In the Netherlands, temporary employment agencies are used to quickly find work. In Italy and Slovakia, Ukrainian doctors and nurses easily find work.
Germany, Austria and Switzerland, that is, German-speaking countries, are asylum-oriented countries and have adopted many restrictions and serious barriers to employment. There are complex procedures for verifying and recognizing professional qualifications, degrees and diplomas. The relevant departments are overloaded. All this takes time.
In Germany, great importance is attached to language learning. This is because good knowledge of the German language is important for obtaining a highly qualified job. Many Ukrainian refugees are well educated, almost every second one has a higher education. They have professional knowledge and could reduce Germany’s need for skilled labor.
Meanwhile, according to sociologist Trenhardt, in countries with high levels of labor integration, most refugees work in low-paid sectors. “No European country has yet managed to make fruitful use of the good education of Ukrainians. They mostly work in low-paid jobs, in hotels and restaurants, in the field of consumer services, and in agriculture,” he noted. In the Netherlands and Poland, cases of sexual and criminal exploitation, fraud and underpayment of labor have also been recorded.
According to the Federal Employment Agency, in January 2024, about 124 thousand Ukrainians registered for integration and language courses. Three quarters of them are expected to graduate in the next six months. Based on this, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) predicted in the fall of 2023 that the employment situation for Ukrainian refugees in Germany would improve in the foreseeable future. However, a report from the Federal Audit Chamber shows that about half of all Ukrainians who began language courses ultimately failed the exams. According to the report, one in seven drop out of courses.
In the future, it will be possible to learn German while working. This is part of the German government’s Job Turbo program, which was launched in response to low employment rates among Ukrainians. It is already being tested in interested companies. The first regular courses are scheduled to begin at the end of March 2024.
Childcare problem
If we compare Germany with other European countries, there is another problem that makes it difficult, especially for women, to find work. There are a shortage of about 350 thousand places in kindergartens across the country. In some federal states, even two years after the start of the war in Ukraine, not all children and adolescents from families of Ukrainian refugees received a place in school, despite the fact that all children in Germany are obliged to study. 65 percent of adult refugees are women, many of whom reached Germany alone. Together with them, approximately 350 thousand minors entered the country.
Without resolving the issue of child care, they cannot get a job. Others are unable to work because they are caring for elderly relatives. If you add to this those who attend language courses, then there are not many who could work. In January 2024, 519 thousand able-bodied Ukrainians were registered with the Federal Employment Agency, but only 206 thousand of them were considered unemployed. At the end of 2023, about 214 thousand refugees were working.
In his study, sociologist Dietrich Trenhardt believes that the level of labor activity of Ukrainians in Germany today is “worrying.” And not only because the potential labor force is not involved. Paid work is an important key to integration. “If they found a place in the labor market, they would have a choice between staying or returning. Without this, they could end up in an unstable situation or begin to ask for asylum en masse,” the sociologist noted.
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2024-04-16 07:58:15