BERLIN, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Federal Labor Office (BA) has completed a first trial for an innovative scheme to disburse unemployment benefit payments in Germany, the Nuremberg-based government agency announced on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for the BA told the German press agency (dpa) that payments worth half a million euros had been forwarded to unemployment benefit recipients in their local supermarkets for the first time between May and August. The scheme is targeted at individuals in financial distress who urgently need cash.
Under the current system, such payments must be sought from special cash points at jobs centers. The machines have been criticized for frequent technical issues and resulting high maintenance costs for the government. Additionally, the relatively small number of job centers in German cities and towns has meant that some benefit recipients must travel long distances in order to obtain funds in emergencies.
So far, the new supermarket disbursements have been trialed in nine cities across the country. Companies participating in the scheme include the Rewe, Penny and Real grocery store chains, as well as dm and Rossman drugstores. According to BA, the significant widening of available cash points for unemployment benefit recipients had taken place without any disturbances to the process.
As a consequence, the supermarket payment trial will be expanded to 20 further BA locations as of November, before being rolled out nationwide by the end of 2019. Recipients of the funds are given an inconspicuous document with a barcode which they can present at cashiers in exchange for their benefit payment.
The Left party (Linke) has previously criticized that the shift of disbursements into the public domain could stigmatize unemployed Germans. However, the BA argued on Tuesday that the new procedure was completely anonymized and unrecognizable to bystanders.
"Nobody at the cashier can tell whether they are witnessing a cash payment from the BA or a refund from an online purchase," the agency told dpa.
