Re: Der Economist über Deutschland - Artikelserie (3)

verfasst von Popeye, 06.12.2002, 09:42

-->Loosen up or lose out
Dec 5th 2002
From The Economist print edition


Germany has far too many rules and regulations

MOST analysts readily agree on what is wrong with
the German economy. First and foremost, the labour
market is far too sticky. Second, taxes and
social-security contributions are too high and profits
too low. Third, and not unconnected, social-security
payments, pensions and health-care arrangements
are too generous. And fourth, there is far too much
red tape. Frustrated businessmen often say that in
English-speaking countries everything is allowed
unless specifically forbidden; in Germany, it is the
other way round.

There had been hopes
that Mr Schröder would
continue with the
liberalisation of
Germany's restrictive
shopping hours
embarked on in 1996,
but opposition from
trade unions, as well
as churches, proved
too strong. Since the
reform six years ago
shops have been able
to stay open until 8pm
on weekdays and 4pm
on Saturdays, but still
not on Sundays, with
only a few exceptions.
If the rules were
relaxed further, the sector could offer many more job
opportunities (although small shopkeepers are
strongly opposed to more liberal opening hours).

The main hope for at least starting to reform
Germany's labour-cum-welfare system rests with the
proposals to improve the labour market made by
Peter Hartz, a top VW manager. When these were
published in August, Mr Schröder instantly promised
to implement them in full. If so, Mr Hartz claimed, his
measures would create 2m jobs within three years.
That may be too sanguine, but they would certainly
make a difference.


Take Hartz

Mr Hartz's aim was not to change the labour market
from the ground up-that, he said, was not his
brief-but to make job placement more efficient, as
well as to encourage temporary and short-term work,
which Germany's highly regulated system currently
discourages. The trade unions, which in the past have
been fierce defenders of the status quo, have broadly
endorsed the Hartz proposals"in principle".

The most controversial proposal is the creation of
"personnel service agencies", to be run mostly by
private temp agencies, which will take on people who
have previously been unemployed and hire them out
as temporary workers. Those who reject an offer of
employment from such an agency will risk having
their benefits docked.

Mr Hartz also tries to tackle the bottom end of the
labour market to counter widespread tax evasion and
create more legal jobs. One of his suggestions is for
"mini-jobs" with private households, where people
earning up to euro500 a month will pay no tax or
social-security contributions and the employers will
make a flat-rate contribution of only 10%, an
improvement on the old"DM630 jobs". Another is to
give self-employed people tax incentives to set up
companies (with a minimum of paperwork) known as
"Me plc", which allow them to earn up to euro25,000
taxed at a nominal rate of 10%, at the same time as
collecting a state allowance that will gradually taper
off over three years. Mr Hartz also wants to trim
benefits for single people who refuse to accept a job
simply because it would mean moving house.

In general, his proposals put more of an onus on the
job-seeker to explain why a job is unsuitable before
the state will provide him with welfare. All this will
require a big change in expectations. The Hartz
proposals would be an excellent first step towards
labour-market reform, but some powerful trade
unionists are beginning to grumble about the bolder
of them. Depressingly, in recent weeks Mr Schröder
has started to back away from his promise to adopt
the lot, and started to water some of them down.
Quelle: Economist vom 6.12.02 (nur Abo)

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gesamter Thread:

• Der Economist über Deutschland - Artikelserie (1) - Popeye, 06.12.2002, 09:29
  • Re: Der Economist über Deutschland - Artikelserie (2) - Popeye, 06.12.2002, 09:33
    • Re: Der Economist über Deutschland - Artikelserie (3) - Popeye, 06.12.2002, 09:42
      • Britische Kapitalisten sagen aller Welt, wo's lang geht? LOL! (owT) - Wal Buchenberg, 06.12.2002, 10:08
        • auch so mancher deutsche Marx-Fan versucht das gelegentlich ;-) owT - silvereagle, 06.12.2002, 10:13
          • @silvereagle, der unabhängige Kopf - Wal Buchenberg, 06.12.2002, 12:04
            • Take it easy, Wal - silvereagle, 06.12.2002, 13:20
        • Gestern seltsame Pressekonferenz des Economist in Berlin - El Sheik, 06.12.2002, 10:25
      • Re: Der Economist über Deutschland - Artikelserie (4) Mit Anhang für @Wal B. - Popeye, 06.12.2002, 10:40