The IAB in April 1967: set up without a statutory basis, a department of the Federal Employment Service (Bundesanstalt für Arbeit) as its contribution to the discussions on automation. The IAB in 2009: an independent institute of the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit), a creative place despite the requirements of two simultaneous statutory mandates. Its wide spectrum of topics and publications benefit from freedom of research while its services are ahead of their times in many ways.

What we have today has developed gradually over the last four decades and a brief glance back will let us understand the present better. For, fortunately, the many different issues dealt with and the many different people involved have left their mark.