German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Tuesday that he still believes that a planned bonus payment for long-term unemployed people who enter work makes sense despite criticism.
Habeck said he understands that people who already have jobs will wonder why the government would pay others $1,000 just to go to work.
“One reason is they wouldn’t work otherwise,” said Habeck, a Green.
Under the plan approved by the German cabinet, people who return to work for at least twelve months would receive the bonus. The intention is for the scheme to come into effect on January 1, 2025.
He said experts have predicted that the bonus would divert an estimated 100,000 people from long-term unemployment benefits into the German workforce.
It’s clear that people want incentives to work, Habeck said.
“Just saying ‘well it’s better to work, get up and not be lazy’ is not always the right thing to do,” Habeck said.
He said he is familiar with arguments about envy or resentment, but now is the time for the country to try to solve a problem pragmatically.
“That would be one way,” Habeck said.
But the government has also recently expressed skepticism about the impact of the plan.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently noted that he did not share many people’s theory that people would be lured into work.
