Do German job centres discriminate against EU citizens?

A recent study by the German Centre for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM) has found that EU citizens regularly face unequal treatment in German job centres. We take a closer look at the findings:

DeZIM: EU citizens face discrimination in German job centres

Titled “Wir behandeln alle gleich” (“We treat everyone equally”), a recent working paper by DeZIM has shed light on institutional discrimination informally exercised against EU migrant citizens claiming social security benefits at job centres in Germany.

In a previous 2017 study, 45 percent of social security recipients who had migrated to Germany reported experiencing discrimination by local authorities. Among those born in Germany, 30 percent of recipients reported experiencing discrimination.

These figures prompted researchers to inspect how EU citizens claiming the long-term unemployment benefit Neue Grundsicherung (previously called Bürgergeld) experience “recurring patterns of administrative exclusion which go beyond individual instances of discriminatory behaviour”.

Interviewing Neue Grundsicherung recipients and administrative employees, researchers found that although they are legally equal to German citizens, “EU citizens who are already otherwise marginalised are sometimes systematically disadvantaged by the (overly) restrictive interpretation of legal regulations in social administration”. 

Put more simply, the legal regulations are that everyone must be treated fairly, but these rules are applied in an overly restrictive way that doesn't account for the fact that applicants aren't arriving at the job centre with the same background and knowledge.

EU citizens claiming Neue Grundsicherung are technically treated equally to German citizens, but often know less about German administrative systems and are not sufficiently supported with information about their rights and options.

Language and cultural knowledge are key

Non-German EU citizen recipients may still face unequal treatment based on their nationality and educational background, but the study found that knowledge of the German language and how the German social system works was “more significant” when it came to claimants being able to “assert their social rights”.

For example, those with good German language skills and cultural knowledge of the German bureaucratic system have a better chance of understanding technical instructions in “Amtsprache” (administrative German) and know more about which procedures job centre employees must follow.

Those still learning German or developing their cultural knowledge are often dependent on “cultural mediators” such as friends, family and acquaintances, or counsellors, to help them navigate interactions with the job centre.

“In practice”, the study explained, “the role of “cultural mediators” shapes how institutional discrimination affects access to Neue Grundsicherung” but formal “cultural mediators” e.g. counsellors are “significantly more effective” in helping claimants than friends or family volunteering their help.

Researchers ultimately concluded that the current lack of support for non-native German speakers in the unemployment systems raises “moral questions” and “contradicts the fundamental principle of a dignified life for the entire population of the German territory, which is enshrined in the German Basic Law”.