Simulationsrechnungen zum Ausmaß der Nicht-Inanspruchnahme von Leistungen der Grundsicherung : Studie im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Arbeit und Soziales zur Abgrenzung und Struktur von Referenzgruppen für die Ermittlung von Regelbedarfen auf Basis der Einkommens- und Verbrauchsstichprobe 2008

"In 2010, the German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) declared the level of social assistance according to the Second and Twelfth Book of the Social Code (SGB II and SGB XII) in its form at that time as non-constitutional. In response to the verdict the 'Regelbedarfs-Ermittlungsgesetz' (RBEG) was adopted. In the political discussion of the RBEG the question remained whether in determining the level of social assistance, households can be excluded from the calculations that do not claim social assistance despite being entitled. Such households are often described by the term 'hidden poor'. The Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales) commissioned the IAB to identify hidden poor households on the basis of empirical models. In addition, the study should investigate how the exclusion of the hidden poor affects the composition of the reference groups which are the basis for determining the level of social assistance. The extent of hidden poverty was examined by using a microsimulation model developed by the IAB. The data base for the model comes from the German Income and Expenditure Survey (Einkommens- und Verbrauchsstichprobe) of 2008. The simulated non-take-up rates range from 34 % to 43 %. These rates are on the lower end of the results reported in the literature on hidden poverty, but the simulation results nevertheless suggest that non-take-up exists to a considerable extent, even after the implementation of a major social policy reform (Hartz IV reform) in 2005. The level of social assistance is determined by the reference households' level of consumption. The exclusion of the hidden poor - using otherwise unchanged calculation rules of the RBEG - leads to an increase in the newly defined reference groups' average consumption spending of roughly 2 % in single-person households and about 5 % in couple households with one child. The IAB was further mandated to investigate the effects of excluding the hidden poor on the composition of reference groups using a sequence of calculation which differs from the one currently specified in the RBEG. The alternative sequence of calculation implies a reversal of the common procedure. Low-income households are selected before households - those receiving social assistance and also the hidden poor - are excluded. As a result of this alternative sequence of calculation, the exclusion of the hidden poor does not result in an increase in average consumption in single-person households. In couple households, compared to the currently applied order of calculation, the alternative sequence of calculation results in a considerably smaller increase in average consumption of 2 %." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))