Status: 08/18/2022 10:45 a.m
The German Association of Civil Servants estimates the number of missing positions in the public sector at 360,000. When the baby boomers retire, there will be even bigger problems at federal, state and local level.
The German Association of Civil Servants (dbb) warns of growing problems due to staff shortages in the public sector. “According to the estimates of our 40 member unions, 360,000 employees are missing,” said dbb national chairman Ulrich Silberbach of the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”. “In doing so, we not only take into account vacancies, but also the personnel requirements that result from new tasks.”
The gap will grow significantly, says Silberbach: “In the next few years, the number will be much larger due to the retirement of the baby boomers.”
Tariff demands will be high
In view of the wave of retirements, the dbb boss called for more jobs, a reduction in working hours and performance-related pay. In addition, long-term personnel planning is required in the administration, which takes demographic change into account.
On the other hand, public service must be made more attractive through incentive systems, Silberbach said in the interview. He also commented on the upcoming collective bargaining negotiations: “We will decide on our collective bargaining demands for the federal and local governments in October. They will be high. There is no other way in the current situation.”
Financially, the public service cannot compete with the private sector. “But the public service can be a particularly modern and family-friendly employer.”
“A Mountain of Overtime”
Many employees push a mountain of overtime in front of them: “We have to do it.” He is aware that digitization could eliminate tasks in a number of areas, especially routine matters. “But we still need the positions for other tasks, for example in consulting,” said the head of the civil servants’ association in the “FAZ”.
Silberbach was dissatisfied with the work of the federal government. “The priorities of the new government surprise me: the Federal Minister of the Interior is talking about equal pay in football and early retirement for volunteers, instead of finally reducing the weekly working hours of federal civil servants and tackling long-term job planning in the administration.”
Around five million employees
In 2020, almost 4.97 million employees worked in the public sector at federal, state and local level. Around 1.9 million of them are civil servants, according to the dbb’s current “Monitor Public Service”. In 2019 it was around 4.88 million and the year before 4.80 million.
With around 2.5 million employees, the staff of the federal states make up the largest share in the public service. This is followed by the municipalities with 1.6 million employees, the federal government with around 500,000 and the social security funds with almost 400,000.