BSo far, more than 103,000 refugees from Ukraine have registered with the job centers and employment agencies in Germany. This emerges from internal documents of the Federal Employment Agency, which are available to the FAZ. The majority – more than 82,000 – are women.
The traffic light coalition in Berlin had decided that refugees from the Ukraine should be entitled to Hartz IV basic security from June 1st. Not only do they receive somewhat higher social benefits than before under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act, but they also automatically have contact with the placement officers in the job centers.
As can be seen from the documents of the Federal Employment Agency (BA), the focus is now initially on the registration and initial counseling of the Ukrainian refugees. These are considered to be well qualified and are in principle allowed to work immediately in Germany. Nevertheless, it will probably take some time before a significant number of them actually find work, if only because many of them do not speak German.
This is also suggested by the BA statistics, although according to them the data on German language skills are only of limited significance. The same applies to information on qualifications. So far, only around 200 Ukrainians have taken part in a further training measure, and almost 180 people who started work were supported with a wage subsidy.
The inclusion of the Ukrainian refugees in the basic security system should also be reflected in the labor market data in the coming months. BA CEO Detlef Scheele expects unemployment to fall less sharply in the coming months – depending on how many refugees come and stay in Germany, maybe not at all. Unemployment initially fell further in May. The unemployment rate fell below the five percent mark for the first time since the pandemic began.