Street-level bureaucrats in Germany's federal employment agency - reforms from the caseworkers' viewpoint

This article deals with the significance of caseworkers in implementing reforms within the German Public Employment Service ('Bundesagentur für Arbeit'). In the last decade, the so-called 'Hartz-Reforms' fundamentally changed labor market policies in Germany. First, we explore the question of how caseworkers assess the reorientation of the business system. Second, we analyze their selfperception on the basis of certain theoretical assumptions. Employees at the interface between organization and clients - the so-called 'street-level bureaucrats' - strongly influence the practical implementation of reforms. We use unique empirical data from a survey among caseworkers and show that they generally support the recent reforms. However, in some areas caseworkers criticize details.