Ministerial Hiring Spree Under Fire as German Public Sector Headcount Hits 5.5 Million
24.06.2026 - 03:14:52 | boerse-global.de
Baden-Württemberg’s green-black coalition government is facing a backlash over plans to create up to 60 new positions in state ministries — 30 for each coalition partner. The CDU-led interior department wants to set up a new policy division, while the Greens are pushing for extra staff in the housing ministry. Critics say the move clashes with the government’s own stated goal of cutting its workforce by five percent before the end of the legislative term, a reduction of more than 200 posts.
Since 2011, the number of ministry jobs in the state has swelled from roughly 3,000 to more than 4,000. The Taxpayers’ Association and the State Audit Office have both slammed the planned expansion. The 2027 state budget already shows a financing gap of around €5 billion, and the finance minister has described the situation as drastic. To close the hole, the government is counting on surpluses, loans, €150 million in departmental savings, and cuts to grant programmes.
Record employment driven by schools and daycare
Nationally, the public sector workforce reached a fresh all-time high of 5.5 million as of 30 June 2025, the Federal Statistical Office reported. That is a 1.8 percent increase year on year. Statistically, one in every eight employed people in Germany now works for the state.
The growth was concentrated in social infrastructure. Schools added roughly 19,000 positions, bringing the total to more than one million. Day-care centres expanded by 7,500 staff to 298,000. Universities also grew, up 2.2 percent to about 651,300 employees.
Commission calls for limiting civil servant status
Separately, a pension commission has proposed restricting the Beamtenstatus — Germany’s special civil-service career track — to core sovereign functions such as police and justice. Teachers would no longer be granted that status under the plan.
The concept envisions gradually aligning pension levels with the general statutory pension system. The calculation period for retirement benefits would stretch to between five and ten years. Experts reject a full integration of civil servants into the statutory pension insurance, citing legal obstacles and heavy burdens on state budgets. Chancellor Merz has nonetheless announced he intends to implement the proposals comprehensively, including linking the retirement age to life expectancy.
Digitalisation seen as a way to ease staffing pressure
Several German states are turning to technology to offset demographic change and reduce the need for new hires. North Rhine-Westphalia plans to restructure its tax administration to lighten the workload for 500,000-plus employees through modernised workflows.
In Rhineland-Palatinate, worker representatives are demanding a stronger voice in the digital transformation. ver.di warned that artificial intelligence must not be used primarily as a cost-cutting tool. New technology could complement expertise but not replace it, the union argued. It called for closer involvement of staff councils in the state’s transformation council to ensure that public-sector modernisation is done together with the workforce.
