Lilith
02-02-2005, 06:51 AM
(submitted by gekkogecko)
BERLIN (Reuters) - A celebrated Berlin
prostitute said Monday that German job center advisers
shouldn't shy away from offering jobs in the sex
industry to the long-term unemployed.
Molly Luft, who sold her famous Berlin brothel two
months ago and now runs a bar in the city's lively
Kreuzberg district, said the sex industry was always
looking for new recruits.
"Why shouldn't they send the unemployed to work in the
sex industry? Before it was a gray zone, but now
employees are insured and receive benefits," Luft told
Reuters. "People would no longer be unemployed and
could earn themselves a living."
Most business sectors in Germany are shedding workers,
and unemployment is expected to exceed five million,
nearly 11 percent of the workforce, in January for the
first time since reunification in 1990.
German sex workers have been on a par with any other
employee since the government legalized prostitution
in 2001. They are entitled to social security benefits
and pay taxes.
Registered brothel keepers also believe they have a
right to seek new staff through job centers and have
been scouring job seekers' databases for suitable
matches.
"I was always looking for workers over 30 years in the
trade. People aren't willing to work very much but
they expect to earn a lot of money," Luft said.
A spokesman for the Federal Labor Office said that if
job seekers said they were prepared to work as, for
example, dancers in strip bars, advisers could put
them in touch with any suitable employers, but
vacancies would not be displayed in job centers.
He also stressed job centers would not look for
prostitutes on behalf of brothels, nor offer sex
industry jobs to people who hadn't specifically
mentioned it as an area of interest.
Speculation has grown over recent weeks that Germany's
new welfare reforms, obliging the long-term unemployed
to take any available job or risk losing their
benefits, could lead to women being offered jobs in
the sex industry.
"One can't expect everyone to be prepared to work in
the sex industry," Luft said. "Plus if people aren't
very attractive they aren't going to make much money,"
she added.
BERLIN (Reuters) - A celebrated Berlin
prostitute said Monday that German job center advisers
shouldn't shy away from offering jobs in the sex
industry to the long-term unemployed.
Molly Luft, who sold her famous Berlin brothel two
months ago and now runs a bar in the city's lively
Kreuzberg district, said the sex industry was always
looking for new recruits.
"Why shouldn't they send the unemployed to work in the
sex industry? Before it was a gray zone, but now
employees are insured and receive benefits," Luft told
Reuters. "People would no longer be unemployed and
could earn themselves a living."
Most business sectors in Germany are shedding workers,
and unemployment is expected to exceed five million,
nearly 11 percent of the workforce, in January for the
first time since reunification in 1990.
German sex workers have been on a par with any other
employee since the government legalized prostitution
in 2001. They are entitled to social security benefits
and pay taxes.
Registered brothel keepers also believe they have a
right to seek new staff through job centers and have
been scouring job seekers' databases for suitable
matches.
"I was always looking for workers over 30 years in the
trade. People aren't willing to work very much but
they expect to earn a lot of money," Luft said.
A spokesman for the Federal Labor Office said that if
job seekers said they were prepared to work as, for
example, dancers in strip bars, advisers could put
them in touch with any suitable employers, but
vacancies would not be displayed in job centers.
He also stressed job centers would not look for
prostitutes on behalf of brothels, nor offer sex
industry jobs to people who hadn't specifically
mentioned it as an area of interest.
Speculation has grown over recent weeks that Germany's
new welfare reforms, obliging the long-term unemployed
to take any available job or risk losing their
benefits, could lead to women being offered jobs in
the sex industry.
"One can't expect everyone to be prepared to work in
the sex industry," Luft said. "Plus if people aren't
very attractive they aren't going to make much money,"
she added.