Authority: Nahles officially proposed as head of the employment agency

authority
Nahles officially proposed as head of the employment agency

Andrea Nahles has cleared the last big hurdle on her way to her new job as head of Germany’s largest authority. The Board of Directors of the Federal Employment Agency (BA) proposed the former SPD leader as the new CEO on Friday.

The corresponding decision for the 51-year-old former Federal Minister of Labor was made jointly by employees and employers on the Board of Directors.

Both sides had previously agreed on a personnel package for the federal agency headed by Nahles in January. The employers had given up their initial opposition to the SPD politician. Nahles will succeed Detlef Scheele in the office – he, too, a former SPD politician as Hamburg Senator for Social Affairs and State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Labor.

Four board members

The package also provides for two proven experts in labor market policy to join the board: Deutsche Bahn manager Katrin Krömer and Vanessa Ahuja, previously head of department in the Federal Ministry of Labor. Daniel Terzenbach will remain a constant on the board, which has been expanded from three to four members. BA CEO Scheele will retire at the end of July, HR and Finance Director Christiane Schönefeld, who will follow Krömer, in September. As the future fourth member of the board, Ahuja will start in Nuremberg as early as May.

Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) described the three new women on the board as proven labor market experts. “With the former Federal Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Andrea Nahles, the Federal Employment Agency has an outstanding personality as CEO,” he said. “I am convinced that she will use her extensive experience in labor and social policy to shape future-oriented labor market policy with great commitment.” He is sure that she will continue Scheele’s excellent work.

So far, Nahles has headed the Federal Post and Telecommunications Agency in Bonn with 1,000 employees. In Nuremberg, she will not only be responsible for the fortunes of more than 100,000 employees throughout Germany, but also for the largest budget of any German authority, at around 40 billion euros a year. In addition to the consequences of the corona pandemic and the ongoing shortage of skilled workers in a rapidly changing economic world, the integration of refugees from Ukraine will also be one of the most pressing problems at the beginning of their term of office.

digitization and infrastructure

As the Co-Chair of the Board of Directors for the employer side, Christina Ramb, emphasized, in the next few years it will also be important to push ahead with the internal reform of the Federal Agency that has already begun. “Digitization, demographic development and securing skilled workers are already making considerable demands on the BA – not only on the labor market, but also internally,” she said. Together with the administrative board, the current board of directors have worked intensively on getting better and better in terms of personnel, IT, digitization and infrastructure. “This must be taken up,” said Ramb.

DGB board member Anja Piel emphasized the challenges for the federal agency on behalf of the employee side: Corona, transformation in industry, Ukraine. “These challenges require a motivated and competent management team that shapes the future of the labor market together with the board of directors and the social partners.”

The federal cabinet still has to formally approve the personnel proposal, and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has to appoint Nahles. She is scheduled to officially start in her new post on August 1, but could have gone through an induction phase before then.

dpa