Die Entwicklung der Balance zwischen Erwerbstätigkeit und Sozialleistungsbezug in Deutschland

Abstract

Since 1980 the employment rate of the population aged 18 to 64 has decreased and the percentage of welfare and social security recipients has increased. Between 1980 and 2006 the latter went up by 11.8 percentage points while the employment rate went down 5.9 percentage points. The shift in the balance between welfare and work was mainly driven by high unemployment and policies. Its significance for the sustainability of Germany’s “social market economy” as the population shrinks and ages becomes obvious when it is embedded into the shift of the same balance within the whole population. Here the employment rate has decreased by 2.7 percentage points while the recipiency rate increased by 15.6 percentage points so that both rates have almost evened out.