Dhe plans of Federal Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil (SPD) caught many employees in job centers by surprise: From 2025 onwards, he wants young people under the age of 25 to be looked after by the employment agencies – including those for whom the job centers are currently responsible. In Frankfurt alone, there are 9,500 young people who – mostly like their parents – receive citizen income. With the shift, the minister wants to save 900 million euros in his budget – and charge the costs for unemployment insurance, which is borne by contributions from employees and companies.
For outsiders, this seems to be “only” a political and financial gambit, since the young people are apparently being looked after. But the reality is different, as Monika Aglago, manager of the youth job center in Frankfurt, and her employees impressively report. Because this is a foreseeable break in a help network that has been linked in Frankfurt over the past decade by numerous links between advice centres, social organizations and companies by the more than 200 employees of the job centre.
School leavers who come from poor families and receive basic income can count on the job center when looking for an apprenticeship. But as simple as that sounds, placement is difficult in many cases because the young people often come with luggage. Andreas Adams, who has been working in the job center for nine years, can list his customers’ problems in a long list: disputes with parents, money worries, homelessness and addiction, prison experience and subsequent conditions that have to be met, unpaid bills, one unplanned pregnancy. Concentrating on an education is difficult. In many families, German is also not spoken at home, which makes it difficult for the children to integrate into school and work.
The young people are often lone fighters without support from home, says Adams. When their parents are then brought to the job center for advice, some would neither know which school their child goes to nor what career plans they have, he reports of some families. Then it is the consultants who first find out what needs to be done first: organizing a regular daily routine, psychological support, or is there even a medical problem? Above all, it is about low-threshold support offers that these young people do not know from home. “The relationships developed by the employees in the youth job center with the networks are a treasure. This would then have to be rebuilt,” says manager Monika Aglago. “We practically provide holistic support.”
In addition to six regional job centers for adults, the city also has a special offer for young people, the youth job center. It was created in 2012, first as a pilot project and then as a permanent institution, by Daniela Birkenfeld (CDU), then head of the social affairs department, in order to be able to serve the diverse needs of this group of young people from a single point of contact. Employees from the social welfare office and the employment agency have been brought together and are available as contact persons. Over the years, the youth job center has expanded its range of services, for example with the option of part-time training for young mothers on parental leave. Homeless and addicted young people are among the customers, and recently offers for severely disabled young people have also been added. In the youth job center, the employees are called PAPs, “personal contact persons”, as a rule there are always two who are up to date when it comes to looking after their customers. A full-time employee looks after up to 230 people in the youth job center – with different needs.
#Entry #workforce #young #people #poor #families #difficult