Paradigmenwechsel durch inkrementellen Wandel: Was bleibt von der Arbeitslosenversicherung?

Unemployment insurance reforms in Germany over the last decade represent a paradigmatic change of the system as a whole. The adjustment of instruments and the modification of the tool box have undergone change as well as the overall orientation of the scheme. The original objective of maintaining a once attained quality of life, which was typical for the German social insurance system, has been gradually replaced by the aim of quick re-employment. This policy change is more than symbolic since two basic policy principles have been changed, the principle of equivalence in benefit reception and the protection of the formal status. We argue that paradigmatic change is here due to the accumulation of incremental modifications. The erosion of the equivalence principle is e.g. institutionalized in shorter reference periods or benefit durations so that a growing number of the unemployed are excluded from benefit reception despite earlier contributions. The status protection is undermined by stricter conditionality criteria and the dismantling of the tool box of active labour market policies. To be sure, many elements of the old regime remain in force, but reforms nevertheless represent a creeping dismissal of the middle-class focused model of social protection against unemployment.