More than 50,000 Hessians have applied online for unemployment benefit II in the past two years.
This has been possible since June 2020, among other things as a reaction to the corona pandemic and the access restrictions in offices and authorities.
At that time, the federal states of Hesse and Lower Saxony started a nationwide pilot project.
Falk Heunemann
Business editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.
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Digitization should significantly speed up the processing of applications.
Other federal states can now also use the application system that was developed by the Darmstadt IT company Ekom21.
The digitization of the administration is laid down in the Online Access Act, which was passed in 2017.
According to this, more than 6,000 administrative services must be digitally usable by the end of 2022.
Average 939 euros per month
Unemployment benefit II, also known as Hartz IV, is given to those who are able to work and have been unemployed for more than twelve months.
In Hesse, almost 260,000 men and women and their minor children are entitled to benefits.
The adults receive the current standard rate of 449 euros as well as costs for accommodation, heating and additional needs.
On average, 939 euros per month are paid to each beneficiary in Hesse.
A growing group of recipients are currently Ukrainian war refugees.
Many of them are not yet available for the labor market because they are taking part in language and integration courses.
The online application is now also available for them in Ukrainian.
The digital application can be found on the websites of the employment agencies and municipal job centers.