Employment agency defends savings tips for hartz-iv recipients

"These are tips that can also be found in many newspapers and magazines," said a BA spokeswoman on thursday. In addition, the booklet is for the most part a helpful guide for the authorities. Previously, the "bild" newspaper had reported on the brochure. In the social networks facebook and twitter it was discussed and criticized partly violently.

The brochure published in the pinneberg district near hamburg tells the story of the fictitious four-headed fischer family in comics. Father knut has to apply for unemployment benefit II, and together with his wife and children he decides, for example, to do without meat. "I want to become a vegetarian anyway," daughter lara is quoted as saying – she is "in the best of moods". A little later, the family sells eleven-year-old furniture on the internet. "Madness!"Father knut roars as a cupboard walks away. Son ben explains that sales from the household goods were not counted – unlike paintings or jewelry.

Tips and understandable language are basically good, said norbert schmitz, social officer of caritas schleswig-holstein. "Only the whole thing should be designed in such a way that it corresponds to the reality of life and potential readers feel taken seriously," he commented on the brochure. This is not the case here.

"Such conversations take place in german households," on the other hand, the BA spokeswoman defended the style. Moreover, the district of pinneberg is not the first with the idea. BA board member heinrich alt had praised the brochure in the short news service twitter on wednesday.

In view of the outrage on the web, the editors announced that they would incorporate the criticism into a possible new edition. "If some things have not come out as ruber as planned, we will take that into account in a new version of the guide," a spokesman for the pinneberg district explained.

The booklet was already presented last week. Nevertheless, the most recent discussion really got the demand going. According to the jobcenter, it had been downloaded more than 15,000 times by noon on thursday. Until wednesday there were less than 200 downloads.