1 Euro Jobs in Germany are "working opportunities with additional cost compensation" in terms of § 16 Abs. 3 SGB II. These working opportunities are features of the former social welfare (§ 19 BSHG: "charitable additional work") but were never (since introducion from SGB II) offered by the social welfare in this extent and are therefore rarely known in public sight.
The jobs are called 1 Euro Job because the "additional cost compensation" is 1 Euro per hour, it was lowered from 1,50 Euro because german politicians thought it would stimulate the unemployed people more to search for a nonexisting job than a Minimum wage for regular jobs would do. The minimum wage is the minimum rate a worker can legally be paid (usually per hour) as opposed to wages that are determined by the forces of supply and demand in a free market. ...
1 Euro Jobbers are not unemployed in statistic meanings even though they are reported unemployed at the job center. Furthermore they are added to the pension calculation like regular working jobs - lowering the average pensions that are calculated by the average wage payment.
See also
Hartz concept The Hartz concept is the name given to the recommendations resulting from a commission on reforms to the German labour market in 2002. ...