Let’s add some context and some numbers!
Ukrainians are entitled to “Bürgergeld”, the social security system for Germans. This means Ukrainians get a benefit, no other refugee gets. If you come from Afghanistan or Syria, you will get less money than Ukrainians. This includes payments for being single parent or pregnant. You get immediate health insurance and you are immediately entitled to look out for a job [1].
The amount of Ukrainian refugees currently working is about 300,000[2], this number has doubled since the beginning of the Russian invasion. The number of total Ukrainians is not clear, but it is about 1,100,000 [3]
We need to exclude children, disabled people etc., fortunately this article itself gives numbers:
701,000 Ukrainians were entitled to social assistance paid to jobseekers and low-income individuals. […] Of these, 502,000 were able-bodied citizens aged 15-66.
Which means roughly 60% of Ukrainian refugees are working. Source [2] lists 211k unemployed, 98k doing integration courses, 29k doing work related language courses, 21k are doing some programs with the employment offices (usually this is sitting in front of a PC and learning MS Word).
Can we conclude Ukrainians are lazy? Absolutely not. Ukrainians are very likely to integrate into the job market. Personally I guess this has mainly to do with not fleeing because of economic reasons but war and to a lesser extent cultural reasons.
Are Germans right with being against supporting Ukrainians with social benefits? Well, that is not easy to answer. But keep in mind, Ukrainians have a special status among all refugee groups that enables them receiving much more support than a “regular refugee”. This is kind of good will Germans proved especially in the beginning of the invasion, where military support was not nearly as strong as now.
The financial situation of Germans is difficult, as it is almost everywhere else. Every euro paid from the social security system is paid by someones taxes. Taxes and health costs etc. are at an all time high of roughly50% 42% of your wage.Lastly, a lot of Germans wonder what young men in the age of 20 or 30 are doing in Germany, why are they not fighting in Ukraine? If you ask me personally, I can absolutely understand not wanting to die for your country. But I guess it is a fair question.
I hope I could give you some context that helps you sort this out. Like always, it is a bit complicated. Slava Ukraini.
[1] https://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/ukrainer-nrw-buergergeld-arbeit-100.html (20.06.2024)
[2] https://www.arbeitsagentur.de/presse/2025-07-knapp-300000-menschen-aus-der-ukraine-gehen-in-deutschland-einer-arbeit-nach (19.02.2025)
[3] https://www.bamf.de/SharedDocs/Anlagen/DE/Forschung/Kurzanalysen/kurzanalyse4-2025-ibs-bevoelkerungsstruktur-ukr-gefluechtete.html (07.05.2025)
Some additional context. The survey was done by “Insa” for Bild Zeitung. “Insa” has repeatedly been criticized for their survey methods and has connections to the afd. The Bild Zeitung ist also a low quality right wing news paper. I don’t know why DW even reports on stuff Bild Zeitung writes. They are supposed to be reliable. Reading the posted article you would think DW would have done the survey but they only report on the article that was written by Bild Zeitung. And weirdly the article only appears in the russian edition of dw. Not in the German one. Lastly the question was asked very weirdly. They asked “should all Ukrainian refugees receive social assistance?” The answer to this would obviously be no for many people as many ukrainian refugees don’t need social assistance if they have a job or are personally wealthy. I can’t really find the original survey. Just the Bild article on it. But I wouldn’t but too much weight on it.
The Bild Zeitung ist also a low quality right wing news paper.
Please don’t call that propaganda rag a newspaper. It’s not even good as toilet paper, because you arse would get dirtier from wiping it with that rag.
They don’t even call themselves a newspaper because then they would probably be liable for lacking even minimal journalistic standards…
First time i heard that insa is tied to the nazis
roughly 50% of your wage
can we lay this myth to rest? I keep hearing the 50% number from expats / tourists / international friends and it’s simply not correct. For the vast majority of people its 42% or less.
E: sorry for the kneejerk reaction, I also wanted to say: fantastic coment overall. I’d add the current political climate and generally stronger right wing/conservative leaning of the general population.
Thanks for the correction, I edited my comment. No need to apologize, I can see this is frustrating.
[Meta] This is a great high-quality comment with proper references! I personally really appreciate the effort of elaborating on media articles that are often sensationalist or clickbaity. Keep up the good work!
Username checks out with the quality of comments.
Please read gigachad’s comment before you pass judgement.
IMHO the headline should read “66% of Germans oppose Ukrainians getting more benefits than other refugees”
Additionally, the survey was made for a famously right-wing populist outlet so I’m not sure how the numbers stand up to scrutiny (yobasari’s comment).
66% of us are twats.
I really would like to know how many of those wanting to send Ukrainian men back home have preemptively refused military service. And further how many know that there is effectively no such thing in Ukraine.
66% of people answering a poll by INSA, who have some serious AFD connections
To be fair, a lot of people reject military service, unless their country is attacked. Opinions tend to shift at that point.
In Germany a draft is only possible in case of a defensive war.
That can’t be true. People were drafted all the time without a war. The new law is also about drafting people if there are not enough volunteers.
Art. 12a makes a distincten between mandatory military (or civil) service and an actual draft during wartime (Paragraph 3).
We might be arguing semantics here but to me military service has always been the temporary training and draft the “we give you a rifle and send you to fight” thing.
I don’t see that in paragraph 3. It says men to whom military or civil service can’t be applied can still be forced to do civil work. That should apply to all remaining unfit men who were excluded from service.
So there doesn’t seem to be a distinction between draft and mandantory service.
What’s interesting is that the new volunteers become time limited soldiers and not just men doing military service. The limits to defence don’t apply to them.
Peace time Conscription in Germany is only halted, not abolished.
66% of a specific audience to get a desired result.
How can it be morally justified to support a male refugee in Germany while we support Ukraine to draft every man who didn’t have the means to flee to Germany?
Downvoters, it doesn’t feel good to send a man to war, but how do you justify what is happening?
Not every man is able to fight, Ukraine is not drafting every available man (the minimum draft age is currently 25), and conscientious objection is a right even in well-justified wars
the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine admitted that conscientious objection is not allowed under martial law
It’s arguing semantics if men of age 18 or 25 are drafted. Of course it’s also not everybody who is fighting.
I can fully understand everybody who doesn’t want to fight in that war. But how could one explain to a drafted Ukrainian that he has to fight while we financially support those who were lucky enough to have a car and leave the country? The rich left and the poor fight.
I am not arguing that we should return them. I just want to see an argument. What could I tell a drafted Ukrainian?
You could tell them that every human has a right to be treated well. If the roles were swapped they would get the same treatment. So both are treated with respect.
Dehumanizing imaginary people serves no one.
There are a lot of fates we do not know and we should treat everyone with decency that also includes supporting them without judgement. They should not have to prove themselves.
Your whole premise was “how can we justify taking in male refugees?” If there’s a million-plus strong category of men who aren’t being drafted the why the hell shouldn’t we take them in as refugees if they need it?
The Ukrainian MoD refusing to recognise a right of conscientious objection does not mean Germany has to do the same
You could probably tell that Ukrainian soldier that you’re going to support him regardless of whether his wealthy countrymen flee or not. If you don’t want to return those that fled, what good does it do to the soldier for you to pick this fight? You’re not arguing to give him another soldier at his side.
