PASS – A Household Panel Survey for Research on Unemployment and Poverty

The series of reforms of the assistance scheme for long-term unemployed persons in Germany that was introduced between 2003 and 2005, the so called Hartz-reforms, is considered one of the major post-war reforms of the German social security system (Moller / Walwei, 2009, 11). It culminated in the combination of the former unemployment assistance (‘Arbeitslosenhilfe’) and social assistance (‘Sozialhilfe’) into a new form of benefit for all persons aged 15 to 64 who are capable of working and whose household has no sufficient income. This benefit is called Unemployment Benefit II (‘Arbeitslosengeld II’: ALG II). The new assistance scheme aims at strengthening the individual responsibility of recipients. The benefits and the labour market programmes within the scope of the new assistance scheme aim at terminating or reducing neediness, particularly by supporting re-integration into the labour market, and at assuring subsistence of the households in need.