Germany faces looming public sector crisis by 2030
According to the Association of Cities and Municipalities, the shortage of personnel could threaten public administration with a "creeping blackout." By 2030, approximately 230,000 workers will be lacking, writes Deutsche Welle.
The shortage of personnel will have a huge impact on the work of the public sector, particularly municipalities, and could push services provided in the public interest to the brink of collapse, said Andre Berghegger, Director General of the German Association of Cities and Municipalities, as quoted by Deutsche Welle.
He added that currently in Germany, more than 100,000 positions in municipal administration are unfilled due to a lack of adequate personnel. He emphasized that in the next ten years, almost 500,000 of the approximately 1.65 million employees working in municipalities will retire. This will result in a shortage of 230,000 workers by 2030, he calculated.
It's not just about officials. In the next five years, 50,000 bus drivers are expected to retire. According to Berghegger, there is already a shortage of more than 100,000 qualified childcare and kindergarten workers. "Without swift and decisive remedial measures, serious consequences for citizens and Germany as a business location are to be expected," writes Deutsche Welle. Berghegger spoke of a creeping blackout.
According to Berghegger, the solution includes flexible working time solutions and reorganizing tasks to make employment in the public sector more attractive. Part of the solution also involves embracing artificial intelligence, and he criticized Germany's reservations about digitization. "If digitization continues to proceed at a snail's pace in Germany, we will consciously squander our chances for the future," he warned.
