Top-up

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In the terminology of the Federal Employment Agency , top- ups are people who receive benefits under SGB ​​II in addition to unemployment benefit ( unemployment benefit I ). This can be the case if the entitlement to unemployment benefit I is too low to cover the subsistence level. In colloquial language in Germany, Aufstocker is a term for people who earn such a low income with their employment that they receive additional financial benefits from the job center . However, the labor market statistics officially speak of “employed unemployed recipients of unemployment benefit II” or “supplements”.

Activity types

Any type of income can be topped up: It can be earned income from an employment relationship, income from self-employment or social benefits ( unemployment benefit , sickness benefit , injury benefit , transition benefit , pension for partial disability ).

Entitlement to basic security benefits

Those able to work are entitled to unemployment benefit II (standard needs, needs for accommodation and heating, any additional needs) in addition to their income if their creditable income is not sufficient to cover the needs mentioned and if there is no or insufficient assets to be used.

The income is "credited" according to certain rules ( Section 11 SGB ​​II in connection with the Alg II regulation ). Certain amounts are deducted (deduction amounts according to Section 11b SGB ​​II). Because of the exemptions according to Section 11b (2) and (3) SGB II, the income of a gainfully employed supplementary total exceeds the basic security benefits. This is intended to create an incentive for taking up gainful employment.

Entitlement to employment promotion benefits

Top-ups are also entitled to active job promotion or integration benefits according to Book Three of the Social Code .

Employed benefit recipients in the social statistics

In November 2012 there was unemployment benefit II

  • 4,334 million persons capable of work, of which were
  • 1.310 million people or 30% were gainfully employed (at district level between 21% and 43%), of whom were
  • 1.196 million people or 91% are employed (between 84% and 99% at the district level, the others are self-employed)
  • 0.329 million people or 28% an income above 800 euros (at district level between 17% and 44%).

As a result, around 9% of the employable beneficiaries are employed with an income above 800 euros.

The number of benefit communities in which at least one full-time employee who is subject to social security contributions lives was

  • 2007 with 382,000 benefit communities,
  • 2008 with 377,000 benefit communities,
  • 2009 with 332,000 benefit communities,
  • 2010 with 334,000 benefit communities,
  • 2011 with 327,000 benefit communities.
year Employed
ALGII recipients 		Share of all
ALGII recipients 		of which
social
insurance-
liable 		Share of all
social
insurance-
liable
employees 		of which
full-time 		of it
living alone 		source
June 2005 3.3%

2007 1,219,981 23.1% 2.6%
2008 1,321,671
2009 1,324,809 5.1%
2010 1,404,188 28.3% 331,000
2011 1,400,000 2.5% 329,000 79,500
December 2011 1,355,000 30.0%
July 2012 1,320,000 557,000 350,000
June 2013 1,300,000 218,000 47,000

In June 2010 there were just over 1.4 million top-ups in Germany.

When the new basic security law was introduced, there were a total of 4.89 million recipients of unemployment benefit II on an annual average in 2005. Of these, 2.77 million were registered as unemployed. The remaining 2.12 million beneficiaries were “mainly people who are still attending school, who receive unemployment benefit II as supplementary help in addition to wages from an employment relationship, people who take part in a qualification measure or are not available to the labor market due to special circumstances stand."

In 2007 there were 1.22 million top-ups (23.1 percent of benefit recipients). By June 2010 the share had increased to 28.3 percent (= around 1.4 million). The largest share of top-ups was in June 2010 with 32.6 percent in Saxony-Anhalt . Nationwide, this share was 29.6 percent in 2013.

According to a study by the DGB , the proportion of top-ups among employees subject to social security contributions rose from 3.3 to 5.1 percent in the new federal states from June 2005 to September 2009. In the western federal states, the proportion rose from 1.1 to 2 percent in the same period. The highest rate was found in Berlin with 6.5 percent increase. The transition to a better paid job is very rare; in this respect there are no changes compared to the time before the introduction of basic security for job seekers. Short-term precarious employment in temporary agency work dominated . 39.2 percent of the East German top-ups (29.5 percent of the West Germans) earned less than 5 euros an hour, 37.3 percent (in the west: 28.3 percent) less than 7.50 euros. At 14.3 percent, the risk of poverty is twice as high as that of the rest of the population subject to social insurance contributions.

In 2011, an average of 737 euros per month were paid to more than 1.21 million benefit communities with top-ups.

Problem of the increasing number of replenishers

Partly because of the strong increase in top-ups among the employed, the introduction of a minimum wage or an unconditional basic income has recently been increasingly demanded, but this is controversial in terms of social and economic policy. The DGB has spoken out against raising the deductible for recipients of basic security benefits who earn additional income because this could create an incentive for employers to lower wages even further.

Heike Göbel pointed out in the FAZ that stocking up helps people “to preserve chances for a better job. But it also offers companies an incentive to set up subsidized employment and exploit the state. "

See also

Web links

 Wikinews: Fewer and fewer people can make a living from their work  - message

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Federal Employment Agency (ed.): Second Book of the Social Code - SGB II . Technical instructions § 7 SGB II beneficiaries. August 10, 2016, p. 31 / 7.78 ( arbeitsagentur.de [PDF; 327 kB ; accessed on January 29, 2017]).
  2. ↑ toppers . Entry in the Gründerszene Lexikon, accessed on April 8, 2018.
  3. ↑ Christian Thomann-Busse: When the wages just aren't enough . ZDF today from March 29, 2018.
  4. ↑ Federal Employment Agency: Table annex on cash benefits to benefit communities with income from employment. ( MS Excel ; 749 kB) Retrieved January 17, 2019 . Worksheet 4. Employed Unemployment Benefit II recipients by type of employment and amount of gross income
  5. ↑ Federal Employment Agency: Table annex on cash benefits to benefit communities with income from employment. ( MS Excel ; 749 kB) Retrieved January 17, 2019 . Worksheet 10. Benefit communities (BG) with employed ALGII recipients: Existence and payment entitlements to benefits according to forms of employment
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Peter Koard, DGB study: More Hartz IV top-ups despite the upswing - East particularly affected ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Leipziger Volkszeitung, July 8, 2010. Poor despite work . focus.de, July 8, 2010 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / nachrichten.lvz-online.de
  7. ↑ a b c d e Data collection of employment and benefit receipt according to SGB II, 2007 - 2010 (PDF; 202 kB), Sozialpolitik aktuell, University of Duisburg-Essen
  8. ↑ a b More and more people go to office despite work . In the world. June 24, 2012. Retrieved June 24, 2012.
  9. ↑ Sascha-Pascal Schimmel: Only 30 percent of ALG II recipients work. In: FOCUS-Online. February 28, 2013, accessed April 20, 2013 .
  10. ↑ Poor despite work: Toppers are an essential part of the Hartz IV system. November 16, 2012, accessed April 20, 2013 .
  11. ↑ Statistics adjustment : around a third fewer Hartz IV top-ups full-time. January 31, 2014, accessed November 7, 2014 .
  12. ↑ Federal Statistical Office (ed.). Datenreport 2006 ( Memento of the original from September 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . P. 105. (Accessed July 11, 2010)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.destatis.de
  13. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: SGB ​​II Halberstadt: Integration balance sheet 2007. Halberstadt, June 30, 2009, page 4; listed there as “supplementary” - but the term “top-up” is also found in the statistics for gainfully employed beneficiaries, see: BMAS. Page no longer available , search in web archives: Report of the “Labor Market Working Group” . Berlin, April 26, 2007@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.arbeitsagentur.de@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.bmas.de
  14. ^ Current Social Policy, University of Duisburg-Essen
  15. ^ Hartz IV laws. More than 70 billion euros for toppers ( Memento from December 23, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) . In: Tagesschau.de. December 22, 2012. Retrieved December 22, 2012.
  16. ^ Heike Göbel: The political wages , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, November 2, 2011