Employees at the Federal Employment Agency are complaining about severe staff shortages and unsustainable working conditions. A recent survey conducted by the trade union Verdi, which sampled staff in job centers, revealed that workers are currently operating at the limit of what is manageable.
According to the Verdi study, nearly 85 percent of employees describe their personal workload as high to very high. The union noted in a press release that nearly one in two employees frequently works overtime, while one in seven reportedly works daily overtime. Furthermore, almost seven out of ten job center employees report experiencing health consequences as a result of their stressful work environment, leading one in eight to consider changing jobs.
Christine Behle, the deputy chair of Verdi, told the Funke media group that the results clearly demonstrated that job center employees are already close to the limit of overload. Behle specified that this state has persisted for years, marked by the necessity of constantly reacting to new laws and regulations without sufficient staff or resources available. Three quarters of those surveyed identified a “glaring lack of staff and resulting excessively high caseloads per person” as the primary cause of the overload. For more than 70 percent, the continuous pressure for political reform is also cited as a major problem.
Behle highlighted that another major structural shift is imminent, as the reform of the previous Bürgergeld and current Grundsicherung will take effect on July 1st.
The core message from Verdi is straightforward: there are too few people in job centers to handle the sheer volume of tasks. While acknowledging that staff possess a high professional standard and understand the vital importance of their work-since it concerns the fundamental living conditions of recipients-they often lack the necessary time and technical equipment.
Behle strongly criticized the federal government, stating it is “negligent” to introduce new bureaucratic requirements during the Grundsicherung reform without simultaneously securing adequate personnel. This, she warned, undermines the fundamental goal of the reform: the faster placement of job seekers into the labor market.
Verdi surveyed 6,812 job center employees nationwide between October 2025 and March 2026. The online poll was open to both members and non-members of the union. While the survey was not strictly representative, the union deemed the findings highly meaningful.
