2025
There were no reforms in the area of cross-cutting skills and employability during the reporting period.
2024
There were no reforms in the area of cross-cutting skills and employability during the reporting period.
2023
Citizens' Benefit Act
The regulations in the Citizens' Benefit Act (Bürgergeld-Gesetz), with which funding opportunities for continuing vocational training were expanded and access to funding was made easier, also serve to improve employability and, in part, to improve interdisciplinary skills (cf. the section on reforms in vocational education and training and adult education).
As part of the 2017 coalition agreement, the Federal Government set itself the goal of reopening labour market prospects for people who have been unemployed for a very long time. The Participation Opportunities Act (Teilhabechancengesetz – THCG) was introduced for this purpose. The core element of the Participation Opportunities Act is “participation in the labour market” (Section 16i of the Second Book of the Social Code) and the ‘integration of the long-term unemployed’ (Section 16e of the Second Book of the Social Code) by promoting employment relationships subject to social security contributions. The instruments are aimed at beneficiaries who are distant from the labour market and are intended to open up access to employment subject to social security contributions and the associated opportunities for participation. This brings into focus a group of people for whom few funding opportunities previously existed. When the Citizens' Income Act came into force, the funding for labour market participation (Section 16i SGB II), which was originally scheduled to last until 2024, was made permanent as of 1 July 2023.
The results of the evaluation by the IAB, published in March 2024, show that the SGB II was substantially expanded by the THCG. Both funding instruments work in the intended way: they enable social participation for those receiving funding and significantly improve their employability.
Likewise, the introduction of Section 16k of the SGB II with the citizen income law has added an important measure to the range of advisory tools: now, employable citizen income recipients who have particular difficulties in their professional integration due to individual and social problems can take advantage of comprehensive support (‘coaching’). This means that the overall life situation is taken into account and personal and family hurdles, such as over-indebtedness, are also addressed in order to improve the employability of the participants. Therefore, not only labour market-relevant aspects are dealt with, but also social and structural ones.
2022
There were no reforms in the area of cross-cutting skills and employability during the reporting period.