labour market
More public service staff
Doctors and nurses attend to a patient in an intensive care unit. The strongest increase in staff in the public sector was not least due to the corona pandemic in the healthcare sector. Photo: Jens Büttner/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
About 5.1 million people worked in the public sector last year, 125,000 more than twelve months earlier. The growth is particularly striking in one area.
Compared to the previous year, the number of employees in the public sector in Germany has grown more than at any time since reunification in 1990.
Around 5.1 million people were employed by the police, in health or education in 2021 (as of June 30), according to the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden. That was 125,000 or 2.5 percent more than a year earlier. Around eleven percent of those in employment in Germany would have worked in the civil service.
According to the information, the strongest increase was not least due to the corona pandemic in the healthcare sector. Around 209,500 people worked in public hospitals, health authorities and vaccination centers in mid-2021, 11 percent more than in mid-2020. But the number of employees also increased in many other areas.
In the schools, the number of employees increased by 16,300 to 982,400 and in the universities, including the clinics, by 21,000 to 606,800. According to the statisticians, the number of employees in day-care centers has almost doubled since 2006. In mid-2021, 256,900 people worked there, 5.5 percent more than a year earlier.
The police force saw the second highest increase in staff since the mid-1990s after 2017. The number of people employed there grew by 7,100 to 348,500. That is 11 percent more than five years ago.