FDP on work and social affairs

The FDP wants to strengthen tailored labor-market measures for people with disabilities, refugees and people with an immigrant background. People without a school diploma and the long-term unemployed should be able to enter and move up step by step. The platform calls access to the job market a central question of fairness.

The FDP wants to get more people into work. This applies to people with disabilities and to refugees. It also applies to people without a school diploma. Moving from a mini-job to a full-time job should pay off more.

Transitions from a mini-job through a midi-job to a full-time position would be made more attractive. Unemployment in the state should keep falling and drop below the national average. Conditions for business would be shaped so that jobs are kept and new ones created.

The FDP wants counties and independent cities to be able to pay housing and heating costs for benefit recipients as a monthly flat rate. The state would use the options under federal law to the full for this. The platform sees it as a step toward a "liberal Bürgergeld" (citizen's income).

Some people get money from the state for rent and heating. The FDP wants cities and counties to be able to pay a fixed amount for this. The amount can differ from place to place. Cities and counties should decide this themselves.

The flat rate would vary by municipality and be set by counties and independent cities on their own responsibility. The state would use both existing and future leeway in federal law. The flat rate replaces accounting for actual individual costs.

The FDP wants to make the Working Hours Act more flexible and expand mobile work beyond the pandemic without constraining it through complicated home-office rules. Total working time and breaks would stay the same; only scheduling would become freer. This is meant to make work, family and leisure easier to combine.

The FDP wants freer rules on working hours. Nobody should work more than today. But people should be able to plan their hours more freely. Working from home should stay simple. That way work and family fit together better.

The FDP ties this to goals of the federal government. According to the platform, more flexibility can also reduce environmental impact. A "Work 4.0" lab would promote exchange and knowledge transfer on the future world of work. The state's skilled-labor initiatives would be developed further with chambers, associations, unions and employers, and the Federal Employment Agency, including a guiding vision for "future skills" and more attractive collective-bargaining approaches.

The FDP sees the shortage of skilled workers as the biggest challenge for the economy in the coming years. It wants to address it through education, integration, participation and targeted immigration of qualified people. More housing is to be created for apprentices.

Companies often cannot find enough skilled workers. The FDP wants to change that. It relies on good education. It also wants skilled workers to come from abroad. There should be more housing for apprentices.

According to the platform, the digital and climate-neutral transition will only succeed with enough qualified people. STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and math) and digital skills are to be strengthened further. After the apprentice transit ticket, the party names housing for apprentices as the next step. For industry too, the supply of skilled workers is to be improved mainly through targeted immigration.

The FDP wants to set up a "one-stop agency" as a central contact and guidance point for support services. People should find and use help more easily. In the party's view, the goal of state aid is for people to get back on their own feet.

The FDP wants one single place for all kinds of help. People in need should get advice there. Social workers should be easy to reach, for example in a neighborhood café. They then connect people with further help.

The first contacts are to be generalists such as social workers who can be reached without major hurdles. They would refer people on to specialized services. Support benefits are to be better targeted. The FDP also stresses personal initiative and wants to strengthen the networks around those affected, such as family, volunteers and neighbors.

The FDP wants older people to take a greater part in society and plans a state-level contact person for seniors. Statutory maximum age limits are to be removed and the transition into retirement made more flexible. People should also be able to stay in their own homes as long as possible.

The FDP wants older people to be able to take part fully. The state should have one person for their concerns. Fixed age limits in laws should go. Older people should be able to live at home for a long time.

The contact person would report to the state parliament every year and be available to seniors' councils and individual older people alike. Volunteering by seniors is to be supported even with a smaller time commitment than formal volunteer services require. Access to local shops, mobility, household and pre-care services should become easier, and care providers should network locally. For living at home longer, the FDP relies on multigenerational housing and assistive technology including robotics.

The FDP wants to integrate people with disabilities more fully into the job market, relying on workplace-based solutions and digital aids. Employers are to receive more information, and work assistance services are to be expanded.

The FDP wants to help people with disabilities at work. Companies should get more information. There should be more assistance in the workplace. Digital technology should help too.

The platform calls for more outreach to employers, with the chambers' inclusion advisers playing a bigger role. The Budget für Arbeit (a wage subsidy for employing people with disabilities) is to be used more often and work assistance expanded. Inclusion companies are to continue, and sheltered workshops are to be developed further; workshops that cooperate with companies are seen as a model. The party also wants to support digital aids and assistive technology, including AI and robotics, and to train older people in using digital systems.

The FDP wants more people with disabilities to use the personal budget. Instead of in-kind services they receive money and decide for themselves who provides their support.

People with disabilities can get money instead of ready-made help. This is called the personal budget. They then choose who helps them. The FDP wants more people to use this.

The platform bases this on the goal of a self-determined life and participation in all areas of life. Those affected are seen as customers who freely choose their provider or helper. The FDP says this mainly requires more information and simpler procedures.