BERLIN, Aug 18 (AFP) - A German government programme to allow the jobless to take on low-paid work or create their own companies has failed to reduce unemployment, a leading economic think-tank said Wednesday.
The so-called mini-jobs were introduced in the second quarter of 2003 as part of a wider government reform package aimed at bringing unemployment down from the four million mark, or just over 10 percent.
"The unemployed have so far not directly gained any advantage from the mini-jobs," the Berlin-based DIW institute said in a new study.
It said that, rather than becoming new jobs, they tended to replace others that already existed. The DIW also said that it had noticed a trend whereby people were taking them on as second jobs.
Mini-jobs pay 400 euros (492 dollars) or less per month. People with them are exempt from paying tax or social security contributions, while employers make a flat rate social security payment for each person hired.
The DIW said that many jobless people who tried to create their own companies, the so-called "Ich-AG" or "I-LTD", had done so without having any real project in mind, so increasing the likelihood the venture would fail.
The economy ministry said last week that it was considering demanding that people who launch such companies submit a "business plan".