Overview
- The Deutscher Beamtenbund (DBB) on Thursday published an updated estimate that 631,000 public-sector posts are unfilled, up from about 600,000 a year earlier.
- The DBB says the biggest shortages are in health and elder care (125,200), schools (120,000) and municipal administrations (112,000), with 92,000 roles needed for police and the Bundeswehr.
- The union attributes the gap mainly to retirements that were not backfilled and to rising security tasks such as policing newly designated weapons‑ban zones, which demand more officers.
- DBB chair Volker Geyer has publicly warned he will resist any unlawful removal of civil servants and criticized proposals from the AfD in Sachsen‑Anhalt and pension-reduction ideas from the federal Rentenkommission.
- The DBB’s figures come from its annual survey of 41 member unions and point to growing pressure on service delivery; the union says hiring plans and policy fixes will be the key developments to watch next.