Hartz Concept - Hartz I, II and III

Hartz I, II and III

Hartz I and II both came into effect on January 1, 2003, aiming at making new types of jobs easier to create, and covered, for example:

(Hartz I)

• The foundation of "Staff Services agencies" (Personal-Service-Agenturen or PSAs).
• Support for vocational further education from the German Federal Labour Agency.
• Subsistence payments by the Federal Labour Agency.

(Hartz II)

• New types of employment, "Minijob" and "Midijob", with lower or gradually rising taxes and insurance payments.
• A grant for entrepreneurs, known as the "Ich-AG" (Me, Inc.).
• A rise in the number of job centres.

(Hartz III)

• Hartz III came into effect on January 1, 2004. This measure was aimed at restructuring and reforming Job Centres, whose name was changed from the Bundesanstalt für Arbeit or Arbeitsamt (Federal Labour Institution), to the Bundesagentur für Arbeit or Agentur für Arbeit (Federal Labour Agency).