The Germans, who vote later this month, face the highest number of working poor and precariat in a decade, thanks to the draconian Hartz IV unemployment law, a throwback to the Schröder/Blair Third Way.

Berlin’s Social Court: archives documenting closed legal disputes over the Hartz IV unemployment law Sean Gallup · Getty

More than a dozen people were queuing in anxious silence at the reception counter of the JobCenter in Berlin’s Pankow district, though it was 8am and the place had only just opened. A middle-aged man said: ‘Why am I here? Because if you don’t come when they summon you, they take away what little they give you.’ He thought they would have little to offer him — except maybe a job that had nothing to do with his skills: an unemployed teacher had recently got a letter inviting her to apply for a job as a sales assistant in a sex shop, or be sanctioned. She had posted online ‘I’ve put up with all sorts from my JobCenter, but this is too much,’ saying she intended to file a complaint against the agency for abuse of authority.

The minibus mobile advice unit of the Berlin Centre for the Unemployed had set up in the car park. Team member Nora Freitag put a pile of brochures on ‘How to defend your rights against the JobCenter’ on a folding table and said: ‘This initiative was launched in 2007 by the Protestant church. People are distressed and feel powerless against this bureaucratic monster, which the unemployed rightly see as a threat.’

A pensioner approached. She seemed embarrassed to discuss her problems in front of strangers. Her pension was less than €500 a month, not enough to live on, so she was getting top-up benefits from her JobCenter, but as she still couldn’t make ends meet, she had started a precarious part-time job as a cleaner, earning €340 a month net. She explained: ‘I’ve had a letter from the JobCenter that says I haven’t declared my income, and I have to pay back €250. But I haven’t got the money. And I declared my income on the first day, so they must have made a mistake.’ Another team member took her aside to explain where to appeal and file a complaint if the appeal wasn’t successful.Sometimes the minibus is used to discuss a problem in privacy. ‘That’s one of the effects of Hartz IV,’ said Freitag. ‘Stigmatisation of the unemployed is so strong (...)