In-work Benefits: Curing Unemployment among the Low-skilled in Germany

Among the OECD countries, Germany is perhaps the only country showing a consistent labour market performance over the last 30 years. Unfortunately, this performance is consistently poor, with a strong trend towards higher unemployment that was only suspended, but never really reverted, in the course of regular business cycle up-turns. Low-skilled people are those most severely hit by the shift in structural unemployment rates.