An influencer dubbed Germany’s ‘hottest’ unemployed man has sparked outrage after boasting about living off £800-a-month state handouts and posting videos showing others ‘how to stay jobless’.

Yannis Berkard, 26, has racked up 80,000 TikTok followers with clips ranking supermarkets, returning bottles for cash and sharing tips on how to remain unemployed.

‘It’s 3.22, I’ve just got up and am enjoying the weather here on my balcony,’ the former freelance video editor says in one Instagram video.

‘I’m so far away from the matrix that I can decide if I just go shopping or just chill outdoors … I’m just saying it how it is. I don’t see many disadvantages.’

Although his following isn’t enough to generate income, Berkard has been receiving Bürgergeld, or citizens allowance, for nine months, according to a report by the Sat.1 TV channel. 

He gets €858 (£800) per month, which covers his day-to-day costs because his grandmother gave him his flat in Hanover, so he doesn’t have to pay rent.

 ‘I’ve got a lot more time than before and not significantly less money,’ he told the broadcaster ZDF.

However, Berkard admitted his new lifestyle is not entirely perfect, recently joking that he needed €10,000 for a holiday.

An influencer dubbed Germany’s ‘hottest’ unemployed man has sparked outrage after boasting about living off £800-a-month state handouts and posting videos showing others ‘how to stay jobless’

Yannis Berkard, 26, has racked up 80,000 TikTok followers with clips ranking supermarkets, returning bottles for cash and sharing tips on how to remain unemployed.

Asked by Sat.1 whether he minded being branded a ‘benefit scrounger’, he replied.

‘No, not really. I don’t know why, but no.’

Responding to one critic who wrote, come to Frankfurt station at 10 tonight so I can punch you in the face. ‘I pay taxes for you and you’re totally fit to work,’ Berkard quipped: ‘That’s very late. Remember your alarm goes off early tomorrow.’

When asked if he thought people like him should be put under more pressure to work, Berkard, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with a trophy and ‘unemployed man of the year’, suggested that forcing people to do jobs they don’t want to was bad for the public mood.

‘If you as a taxpayer get angry but can’t do anything about it, it’s wasted energy, but if a big mass of people have to do work they don’t feel like doing, then it’s not wasted energy but wasted life time and it’s not good for the climate of the people,’ he said.

Berkard’s story has sparked fury among German people, earning him TV exposure and coverage in Bild, amid warnings that the country can no longer afford its welfare state. 

The last big reforms, which reduced long-term unemployment benefits, were introduced by Gerhard Schröder, the then chancellor, more than 20 years ago, between 2003 and 2005. 

Since then, unemployment has begun to rise, and key industries such as carmaking and engineering have begun drastically cutting jobs due to competition from China, rising costs and waning demand for German manufacturing.