Bürgergeld in Germany (Citizens Benefit Act): System, Changes, and Challenges

Guest: Rick Sallaba (Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy). It has been over a year now since the German government introduced Bürgergeld. The reforms present a major reworking of Germany’s  unemployment benefits system. While Bürgergeld has done away with a number of sanctions that were deemed unfair and counterproductive, not everyone is impressed by this new approach to unemployment and serious concerns have been raised that the benefits are now too attractive (and expensive). To break the concept of Bürgergeld down with more reason and less emotion, Christopher Murphy is today joined in the studio by the legal scholar Rick Sallaba. (Audio Production: www.citysoundstudio.de)