Experts Shed Light on Germany's Poverty and Welfare Woes

Amid an ongoing debate over growing poverty in Germany, a new study shows that millions of needy people in the country are failing to take advantage of state aid.

Among the people cited by the study are some two million employed people who do not receive pay supplements that they are entitled to, a study by the Hans-Böckler Foundation said.

The foundation, which is closely tied to union groups in Germany, said only 7.4 million of some 10 million qualified people actually take advantage of a supplementary payments for working people who earn too little.

Thus, the statistics put out by the German government "only tell half the story about the needy in Germany," the foundation wrote. "These people live in hidden poverty – as do a million children with them."

Most often affected are qualified workers with part-time jobs who are unable to find full-time work, as well as families with three or more children. In addition, there are 1.5 million households whose full-time pay nonetheless fails to cover their needs.

Experts respond to child deaths

On Wednesday, another study came out that sheds light on the plight of impoverished children in Germany.

Amid reports of the unrelated deaths of two young children who died of mistreatment after they slipped through the child-welfare net, a study by social scientist Klaus Hurrelman estimated there are some 80,000 neglected children living in Germany today.

About one percent of all German parents are completely outside of the social norms – they are severe alcoholics, drug addicts, or have serious psychological problems, the researcher told Die Zeit newspaper. Their children -- generally between the ages of one and ten -- live under the constant threat of catastrophe, he warned.

Government measures called for

Hurrelman also noted that 15 percent of all parents have other serious problems with child rearing. In some cases this is due to poverty or simply poor parenting practices. He suggested the state take a more interventionist role – for example by tying the payment of child-rearing supplements to regular medical checkups for children. "You don't get very far with these people if you make action voluntary," he said.

As the whirlwind of media controversy over the deaths of the two children continued, Bavarian Premier Edmund Stoiber said he did not want to wait for the federal government to take measures to improve child welfare. Rather, some states – like Bavaria – should quickly move toward implementing measures of their own, Stoiber told a cabinet meeting in Munich earlier this week.

Among other things, the state was checking into making regular medical checkups for children mandatory instead of voluntary. The state's minister for social welfare, Christa Stewens, said she would present concrete suggestions next month.

This would be a good move because "in many cases, neglect and abuse can be recognized" in a medical checkup, he said. He also called on society to change its attitudes, and "stop looking away from indications of child abuse."

On Monday, the state of Saxony said it plans to implement an early-warning system for children in problem families.

Democracy in danger?

Finally, an expert on right-wing extremism looked at the poverty discussion from a political angle, saying he was concerned that a growing social underclass could have grave consequences for democracy.

In an interview with the German press agency dpa, Michael Seberich, an extremism expert at the Bertelsmann Foundation, said election analysis shows that people who "have given up on the idea that politicians can help them in any way" either tend not to vote at all, or vote for extremist parties.

German democracy could suffer in the long term if too many people fall into this category, Seberich said.