Routinen der Gründungsförderung in der Grundsicherung

Since their first days thirty years ago, start-up subsidies in the context of welfare and labour-administration have seen some modifications. Quantitatively, subsidies have – at least for some time – substantially contributed to an increase in the number of newly founded establishments in Germany. This contribution focuses on the day-to-day practices in the administration of start-up subsidies for unemployment benefit II recipients. We start from the assumption that in implementing the legal framework, administrations are confronted with expectations derived from a) bureaucratic procedures, b) necessities of advising nascent entrepreneurs, and c) the specificities of welfare state dependence. As these expectations are diverse and often contradictory, local job centres develop four routines: procedualising decisions on assigning the subsidy (Einstiegsgeld), drawing on external expertise, developing competencies through internal specialisation, and behavioural and plausibility checks. Using these administrative routines, employees in job centres cope with the diversity of given interests.