A study by the Institute of the German Economy (IW), which utilized personnel statistics from the Federal Statistical Office, suggests that the current staff shortage in the public service could potentially be almost entirely bridged by increasing the number of full-time employees. According to the IW, if every public sector worker-at the federal, state, and municipal levels-were to switch from part-time to full-time status, this would create an additional 634,000 full-time equivalents. While the public service union estimates the staffing deficit to be around 631,000 positions, the IW cautions that it is unlikely that all state employees would actually adopt full-time work.
However, if all federal states were to match the average working hours of Saxony-Anhalt-the federal state with the highest average working hours in the public sector-an additional 300,000 full-time positions could still theoretically be added.
The need is acutely felt in kindergartens and schools, where the shortage of skilled professionals is particularly pronounced, especially because many current employees work part-time. If all part-time staff in kindergartens transitioned to full-time, the study indicates a 25 percent increase in workload, corresponding to nearly 55,000 additional educator positions. For schools, a similar increase could translate into about a 20 percent rise, equating to 153,000 full-time teaching positions.
The potential for increased workload through part-time conversion varies significantly across the federal states. States with higher purchasing power, such as Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, and Rhineland-Palatinate, hold the largest reserves, with public sector workload potentially rising by 19 to 21 percent. In Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein, the potential stands slightly above the national average at nearly 16 percent. The reserves are notably smaller in the new federal states; for instance, in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the potential is only around eight percent. This smaller figure is partly due to the fact that childcare infrastructure in the Eastern states is traditionally better developed, leading to higher rates of female employment.
