What's more, they have become a campaign issue in elections slated for September 24th, as Chancellor Angela Merkel has promised the economy can reach full employment by 2025 -- in part by improving support for long-term unemployed people. That makes integrating into a society where qualified workers are most in demand difficult," said Ingo Zielonkowsky, director of the Duesseldorf job centre. Refusing to be discouraged, Zielonkowsky happily recounts how he has reduced the number of long-term unemployed people registered at his centre by 25 percent in two years. Perverse incentivesFederal labour agency head Detlef Scheele hopes to reorient the job centres towards reintegrating the long-term unemployed, an area where resources have been tight to date. Some 75 percent of the Duesseldorf job centre's budget is allocated to social benefits, while just 10 percent goes towards integration programmes.

Source: The Local September 17, 2017 13:30 UTC