From subject to object? : The reform of the public employment administration and its consequences for unemployed persons in Germany

Abstract

"The internal reform of the public employment administration, provoked by the placement scandal of 2002, led to a comprehensive reorganisation of the Federal Employment Agency (BA). The hallmarks of this reorganisation are among other changes in the organisational structure as well as the encouragement of competition among employment offices. In this way, elements of new public management were incorporated into the new structures and control mechanisms of the BA. 'Customer flows' within the employment offices have been newly regulated since the introduction of the customer centre of the future ('Kundenzentrums der Zukunft', KuZ,); set appointments mean shorter waiting times; telephone enquiries are taken by a Service Centre, thus removing some of the load from job placement officers. The reforms were intended to underline the key tasks of the BA: instead of simply administering the unemployed, the uppermost goal of all activities is to get people into work. This also includes the expansion of job-orientated placement activities and their professionalization, as experts had demanded. The support of both sides of the labour market - of employers and of those looking for work - which was previously carried out by the same people, was now divided into separate tasks: placement officers orientated to the needs of employers and acting as contact persons for establishments and firms register job offers and make suggestions as regards placement; placement staff geared to supporting the unemployed, register their knowledge and skills in the BA database and try to integrate them into the labour market." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Sowa, F. & Theuer, S. (2010): Vom Subjekt zum Objekt? Die Reform der öffentlichen Arbeitsverwaltung und ihre Konsequenzen für Arbeitslose in Deutschland. In: H.- G. Soeffner (Hrsg.) (2010): Unsichere Zeiten: Herausforderungen gesellschaftlicher Transformationen : Verhandlungen des 34. Kongresses der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie in Jena 2008, p. 1-13.