Hi Chris,

"aktivierende Sozialhilfe" is a program heavily inspired by the American "welfare-to-work program" (for an introduction see here: http://www.doleta.gov/wtw/documents/gp.cfm#gp1; for an explanation of the German term see here: http://www.ifo.de/servlet/page?_pageid=56&_dad=portal30&_sch...

"Aktivierende Sozialhilfe" is a euphemism. What it basically means is this: People who can't find a job (for whatever reasons) and thus become welfare recipients will be required to make an active contribution to the welfare payments they receive under this new scheme (--> that's why it's called "aktivierend"). In practice they're no longer allowed to simply wait for welfare payments to come in (a behavior which has been described as one of the main causes of the high unemployment rate in Germany). Instead, they're expected to earn their own money, as little as it may be, in low-paid jobs. As most of these won't be able to support them, the plan is that the Government will make some welfare payments to complement what they earn. What the proponents of this scheme believe will happen is that long-term welfare recipients will find (better) jobs again, saying any employment is better than no employment at all, and, as a pleasant side effect, the Government will have to spend less money on welfare, which helps reduce the budget deficit.

That's the theory in a nutshell. It remains to be seen what will happen in reality. The concept is certainly debatable (Francis calling it a Gulag 2803).

By the way, the Institute uses "welfare-to-work" to describe their program in English (see the document referred to above).