On 24 January 2004, Florian Gerster, the head of the Federal Employment Service (Bundesagentur für Arbeit, BA [1]), was asked to step down from his position after the agency’s administrative council voted by 20 to 1 to remove him. The administrative council’s 21 members are divided into three groups, with seven representing trade unions, seven appointed by employers and seven named by the government. This development was partly triggered by reports in the media of a series of alleged irregularities relating to contracts that had reportedly not been put out to tender, as they were apparently legally required to be. Mr Gerster had come under fire earlier over other allegations. For example, it was claimed in the media that he had authorised an alleged costly redecoration of executive offices; however, Mr Gerster consistently defended his actions.[1] https://www.arbeitsagentur.de/
In January 2004, Florian Gerster, the head of Germany’s Federal Employment Service, stepped down, following allegations of irregularities. Nevertheless, the government said that it would continue with the fundamental reforms of the agency started by Mr Gerster.
On 24 January 2004, Florian Gerster, the head of the Federal Employment Service (Bundesagentur für Arbeit, BA), was asked to step down from his position after the agency’s administrative council voted by 20 to 1 to remove him. The administrative council’s 21 members are divided into three groups, with seven representing trade unions, seven appointed by employers and seven named by the government. This development was partly triggered by reports in the media of a series of alleged irregularities relating to contracts that had reportedly not been put out to tender, as they were apparently legally required to be. Mr Gerster had come under fire earlier over other allegations. For example, it was claimed in the media that he had authorised an alleged costly redecoration of executive offices; however, Mr Gerster consistently defended his actions.
The minister for economics and labour, Wolfgang Clement, told a news conference held after the BA administrative council’s vote to dismiss Mr Gerster, that 'he will be released early from office after the board withdrew its confidence in him'. He added, however: 'Florian Gerster had, in a difficult economic period, taken on one of the most challenging reform tasks and had made good progress. The far-reaching modernisation of this administration is a huge challenge.'
Amongst other measures, Mr Gerster had cut the subsidies that go to training centres. He also implemented measures to improve the effectiveness of training with regard to re-employment. Moreover, additional cuts were being proposed. He was also seen as having improved considerably the process of finding jobs for unemployed people, as well as the provision of individual counselling of the unemployed through BA employees. The latter process was enhanced by redirecting resources away from administering unemployment benefits towards active employment promotion initiatives. Before Mr Gerster’s arrival in March 2002, one BA employee was, on average, responsible for providing job-finding advice to more than 800 unemployed people. Since then, this figure has dropped to 350. Finally, he improved the compilation of unemployment statistics and reduced costs by eliminating those unemployed people who were not actively seeking work from the statistics. To sum up, Mr Gerster started a reform process at the Federal Employment Service. His reforms aimed to transform it from a bureaucracy to a decentralised and dynamic job-placement agency - though the rapid pace of change has apparently undermined morale amongst staff at the former Federal Labour Office (Bundesanstalt für Arbeit, BA) (DE0203204F).
Mr Gerster, a member of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder’s Social Democratic Party (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, SPD) and former minister of social affairs of Rhineland-Palatinate, took over the Nuremberg-based Federal Employment Service in early 2002 after auditors had concluded that the office had regularly inflated claims of successfully helping people find work. He replaced Bernhard Jagoda, a member of the Christian Democratic Union (Christlich Demokratische Partei, CDU), who had held the post for nine years.
Commentators believe that Mr Gerster's departure comes at an inopportune time for the federal government as it turns its efforts towards reorienting BA away from administration towards a stronger concentration on job placement. The refocusing is part of a package of reforms pushed through by the government in 2003 in an effort to kick-start the German economy by combating high unemployment (DE0303105F and DE0401205F). Despite the departure of the head of BA, Minister Clement remains optimistic. He said that the government would not only continue with the former chief’s reform course, but also expand it. 'Everything is going to go toward placement at the local level,' he emphasised, adding that local personnel agencies would work closely with communities in order to achieve success in placing unemployed workers.
Eurofound doporučuje citovat tuto publikaci následujícím způsobem.
Eurofound (2004), Head of Federal Employment Service departs, article.
