Heil believes that compulsory work for asylum seekers makes sense in individual cases

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Hubertus Heil: Employers should also hire people with little knowledge of German

Photo: Lorenz Huter / photothek / IMAGO

Asylum seekers in the Saale-Orla district in Thuringia will in future have to do community service work.

Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil believes such a work obligation makes sense in individual cases.

»It is current law that municipalities can oblige asylum seekers who live in shared accommodation to do community service.

In individual cases it may also make sense to employ people in collective accommodation during the sometimes long waiting period," said the SPD politician to the "Bild" newspaper.

In the Saale-Orla district, the newly elected CDU district administrator Christian Herrgott wants to oblige asylum seekers to work four hours a day.

The basis is a corresponding regulation in the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act, as a district spokesman said.

The refugees are supposed to do simple work such as cleaning communal accommodation, winter maintenance or green cutting for a wage of 80 cents per hour.

If they refuse, they face a monetary cut of up to 180 euros per month.

The asylum seekers should receive the expense allowance via the payment card.

“Not satisfied with the integration rates”

However, compulsory work would not sustainably integrate refugees into the labor market, warned Heil.

He said his goal was to get people who had found protection here into long-term work subject to social security contributions.

"That's why I'm relying on the 'Jobturbo', with which we can intensify the support provided by the job centers, determine the skills and qualifications of the refugees and thus make concrete job offers."

However, the “job turbo” for refugees launched by Heil and Federal Employment Agency boss Andrea Nahles has so far achieved little.

During conversations with Ukrainians who work at a Rewe store in Berlin, Heil said: "I am not satisfied with the integration rates we have." He appealed to employers to also hire people with little knowledge of German.

"We should make sure that we don't leave people unemployed now," he said.

However, it is difficult for newly arrived refugees to get a job.

They are not allowed to work for the first three months after applying for asylum.

Anyone who has to live in a reception facility and does not have a minor child even has to wait nine months.

Tolerated or refugees in a reception facility with a minor child are generally allowed to work after six months.

Asylum seekers from so-called safe countries of origin who applied for asylum after August 2015 are generally not allowed to take up work in Germany.

Thuringia's CDU leader: Signs to limit immigration

However, the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act also provides for the possibility of compulsory work, as will now apply in the Saale-Orla district.

Paragraph five states: “Those who are able to work but are not entitled to benefits and who are no longer of compulsory school age are obliged to take up a job opportunity that is made available to them.”

This has rarely been implemented so far.

However, in the current debate, the President of the German District Council has now spoken out in favor of introducing compulsory work for all employable asylum seekers in Germany.

This should also apply beyond the non-profit sector.

Praise also comes from Thuringia's CDU leader Mario Voigt.

“We have to send the message: Anyone who experiences the solidarity of the community in Germany must also give something back,” said the Union politician to the Germany editorial network.

This decision in favor of compulsory work is a “sign of the necessary limitation of immigration”.

He argued: "If the traffic lights in the federal government and the Ramelow government in the state do not act, we will have to go our own way where we can."

Support for the Thuringian district administrator's decision also came from CDU general secretary Carsten Linnemann.

He told the "Bild" newspaper: "Anything that strengthens the principle of supporting and demanding is to be welcomed." This applies "not only to recipients of citizen's benefit, but also to asylum seekers."

apr/dpa/AFP