Once the chronic unemployed reach retirement age, they switch from Hartz IV to a state pension.
The Germans devised the Hartz IV system to limit benefits to a subsistence level of living.
In effect, Hartz IV recipients put their lives in receivership to the omnipresent Jobs Center.
Any savings over that amount must go to pay their expenses before they can receive Hartz IV money.
If you have never been employed, such as a graduating student, you go immediately into the Hartz IV program.
The New Deal was introduced after five years of solid economic growth, whereas Hartz IV arrives after three years of stagnation.
Hartz IV recipients must go through a complicated bureaucratic procedure to replace essential household items such as a refrigerator or television set.
This month the constitutional court ruled that the government had erred in setting benefits for the main welfare programme, called Hartz IV.
If Hartz IV succeeds, Germany will have taken a big step towards helping its army of long-term unemployed off the dole and into work.
ECONOMIST: A new and controversial law takes effect this weekend
The Hartz IV reform tackles Germany's chronic unemployment problem, cutting the link between the benefits paid to the long-term unemployed and their earnings in their last job.
Of course, the Hartz IV reforms are not universally popular.
The Monday marches, which are supposed to continue until the Hartz IV law is repealed, gathered strength in the middle of the month but seemed to lose momentum this week.
应用推荐