Higher unemployment benefits compared to the level of salaries Ukrainian refugees can claim in Germany deprive Ukrainian citizens of motivation to look for a job, the Bild tabloid reported on 4 May.
The newspaper stressed that two years after the mass influx of Ukrainian refugees to the EU countries, only one in five (21 per cent) Ukrainian nationals who arrived in Germany managed to find a job. According to the media, this figure remains one of the lowest among all EU countries. The paradoxical nature of this situation is that despite high unemployment among Ukrainian refugees, Germany is experiencing an acute shortage of personnel in almost all sectors of the economy. The reason for such a collision, as Bild correspondents found out, is, among other things, disproportionately high allowances, which deprive migrants of motivation to look for work.
“At the German job center, I am only offered a simple job with a low salary. I’ll be honest: it’s not worth it! I have no motivation to do it. After all, if I worked for Amazon or other companies for 8-9 euros an hour, I would have to pay my own rent, electricity and water. This would be too little compared to the 563 euros I receive under the allowance,” Yuriy Kudrinskiy from Poltava told the publication.
“The benefits we receive from social services are very good and we feel comfortable in Germany,” said Margarita Timofeeva, who lives in the FRG with her minor son.
Many natives of Ukraine also noted that they cannot find a decent job in Germany due to many bureaucratic obstacles, including the requirement to be fluent in German, as well as the necessity to undergo requalification.
“I have two higher education degrees: surveying technician and public administration. But the job center keeps sending me to language courses. They say I can’t work without a C1 language level,” stated Valentina Zelenina.
Olena, a social worker, told the publication that she received her higher education at a private Ukrainian university, but her diploma is not recognized in Germany.
“Now I am forced to undergo another two-year study programme,” she said, adding that she would like to get a job as a kindergarten teacher.
As the Focus publication notes, the Ukrainian refugees’ answers sparked a wide discussion among German citizens, most of whom, however, put the responsibility for the situation on the German government.
“Allowances for Ukrainians were a big mistake. Those who receive them do not need to work, as the status of unemployed puts them in a more favourable position. It is not the Ukrainians who are to blame, but the politicians,” said Rainer Fürst, a reader of the portal.
“Why should I go to work for 12 euros when I can get the same money with unemployment benefit. I don’t think I would go to work for less than 20 euros in the future either,” noted Sebastian Selters.
User Haho Müll also said that the existing difference between benefits and wages deprives Ukrainians of any incentive to take a job in Germany. He said the company he works for receives Ukrainian refugees quite often, but “almost all of them demand to be paid more than 25 euros per hour.”
“This is too much for unskilled labour. In our company, we most often pay 16 euros an hour. Out of 200 employees, we have only one Ukrainian working as a labourer. In her own words, she sees work more as entertainment,” the reader stated.
In Germany, there continues to be widespread public debate over the spending of budget funds on unemployment benefits for Ukrainian refugees. At the end of April, Focus estimated that Germany could save up to 840 million euros a year if people from Ukraine received the usual refugee benefits rather than unemployment benefits.
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