Translation of a German-language press release by the Left Party (Die Linke) on the sixteenth (16th) anniversary of the passage of Hartz IV in the Federal Republic of Germany. The original press release is available here: https://www.die-linke.de/?id=3665&tx_news_pi1%5Bnews%5D=77661 It's a slightly more "liberal" translation but I tried to stick as close to the source text as possible. All errors are my own. For context as to Hartz IV in Germany, which is perhaps roughly comparable to "workfare" in the United States as mandated by the then-President William Jefferson Clinton, see these links: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartz_concept#Hartz_IV https://www.thelocal.de/20191107/what-you-need-to-know-about-hartz-iv-in-germany

1. Translation of a German-language press release by the Left Party (Die Linke) on the sixteenth
(16th) anniversary of the passage of Hartz IV in the Federal Republic of Germany. The original
press release is available here: https://www.die-
linke.de/?id=3665&tx_news_pi1%5Bnews%5D=77661 It's a slightly more "liberal" translation
but I tried to stick as close to the source text as possible. All errors are my own.
For context as to Hartz IV in Germany, which is perhaps roughly comparable to "workfare" in
the United States as mandated by the then-President William Jefferson Clinton, see these
links: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartz_concept#Hartz_IV
https://www.thelocal.de/20191107/what-you-need-to-know-about-hartz-iv-in-germany
The translation:
Sixteen (16) years ago, on December 19, 2003, the mediation committee of the German
Bundestag adjusted the Hartz laws. Yet, on the same day, the Hartz laws were abandoned. Katja
Kipping, chair of the Left Party, explains:
As an entire Grand Coalition decided upon and proclaimed Hartz IV, our party alongside many
unemployed and participants protested against it. In those days we went by the slogan: “Hartz IV
is legally enforced poverty”. We had to [do so] considering that not everybody listened to us. In
the meantime, official statistics prove it: The poverty trap, which is to say the difference between
the poverty line and [the monetary value for] an average Hartz IV benefit for a single
unemployed adult, is 390 Euros.
Hartz IV also amounts to social division. Since 2005, the real discretionary income(s) of the
poorest 10% of the population sank by 1.5%, while the income(s) of the wealthiest 10% rose by
6%
Hartz IV, furthermore, means a precarious labor market [the original German is
“Arbeitsvermittlung nach Drehtüreffekt” which literally translates into “Labor exchange
following a revolving-door effect”]. [Over/At least] 1 out of 3 Hartz IV work placements is
briefer than 6 months—one is hardly outside [when] one is within again. Roughly every second
work placement [offers no way out] because the pay is too low.
Hartz IV is also an attack on labor standards. The fear about the collapse of the sanctions regime
(for context: https://www.dw.com/en/germany-court-rules-welfare-sanctions-unconstitutional/a-
51115790) led to greater readiness to accept lower wages and even worse working conditions.
Now, 16 years later, there is ever more awareness which vindicates these criticisms. Now, more
and more of those who favored Hartz IV in those days back away from it. We welcome this
progress in awareness. Now, there must also be practical results.
Given that tomorrow [, December 19, 2019,] is the [sixteenth] anniversary, it is time to say [that]
we need a majority in the Bundestag to do away with Hartz IV through good jobs, more
unemployment insurance, and penalty-free minimum insurance.
For a society free of poverty.