In 1975 Sarrazin started to work in the Federal Ministry of Finance. Until 1981 he served as Head of Unit in the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. In 1981, he returned to the Federal Ministry of Finance. In October 1981, he started to work as bureau chief and was a close collaborator of Federal Finance Minister Hans Matthöfer and his successor Manfred Lahnstein. Even after the end of the socialist-liberal coalition in October 1982, Sarrazin remained in the Finance Ministry. There he was director of several units, including (from 1989 to 1990) the "Innerdeutsche Beziehungen", which the German monetary, economic and social union prepared. During his time as Head of the Federal Ministry of Finance, he was partly responsible for German railways.