Work, eit­her in the form of employ­ment or self-employ­ment, is a great dri­ver of inte­gra­tion. It is a way of brin­ging tog­e­ther society and indi­vi­du­als. It pro­du­ces self-con­fi­dence and iden­ti­fi­ca­tion with one’s own achie­ve­ments. It lends struc­ture to ever­y­day life, faci­li­ta­tes com­mu­ni­ca­tion and, by doing so, is a decisive fac­tor when it comes to ensu­ring social cohe­sion. Since gain­ful employ­ment plays such an important role, faci­li­ta­ting access to the labour mar­ket for all per­sons who are capa­ble of working is essen­tial regard­less of their indi­vi­dual cir­cum­s­tances. In our work-based society, people’s talents are meant to thrive irre­spec­tive of sex, natio­na­lity, eth­nic or social ori­gin, reli­gion or belief, disa­bi­lity, age, sexual ori­en­ta­tion, and iden­tity. The employ­ment struc­ture needs to reflect social diver­sity. This applies to the public as much as the pri­vate sector.

In the social mar­ket eco­nomy, close coope­ra­tion on eco­no­mic and social policy bet­ween employ­ers’ and employees’ asso­cia­ti­ons, within the self-gover­ned social insti­tu­ti­ons and with the Govern­ment makes an important con­tri­bu­tion to our demo­cra­tic sys­tem. The Ger­man model of social part­ner­ship is the defi­ning attri­bute of the social mar­ket eco­nomy and fos­ters social cohe­sion. The free­dom to form coali­ti­ons is enshri­ned in our con­sti­tu­tion and forms the basis for socie­tal under­stan­ding and social peace.