Germany’s child care crisis leaves parents and businesses in a lurch

Kindergartens in Germany are in crisis, as staff shortages wreak havoc on the lives of working parents, hurt the country’s productivity and risk the future prospects of a generation of children.

A shortage of trained childcare workers in the European Union’s largest economy is causing overcrowding in daycare centres, emergency closures and a shortage of available places – with wide-ranging consequences for families, businesses and the labor market.

“The situation has never been more worrying,” said Rachel Dreyer, one of Germany’s leading authorities on early years education. “I experience this daily in my interactions with (child welfare) professionals, with parents who are absolutely at their limit and with exhausted children from very large groups.”

Parents in Germany have the lowest childcare costs of any developed country, although stark regional differences mean fees can range from zero to around €1,200 per month.

But this fact hides deep problems with the reliability and quality of care.

While Olaf Scholz’s coalition government this year pushed through new legislation and additional funding for The otheras day care facilities for children under six are known in Germany, the draft law did not live up to the hopes of many experts. Childcare is already playing a role in the campaign for parliamentary elections scheduled for February, with the main parties promising to take steps to address the crisis.

Government spending on daycare has increased significantly over the past 15 years, with the German public sector spending a net amount of around €46 billion in 2023 as the number of places expands. This figure represents about 1.2 percent of GDP, up from about 0.7 percent in 2009, according to Stefan Sell, professor of economics and social policy at the Koblenz University of Applied Sciences.

Although Germany Low fertility rateDemand for additional places is increasing as more mothers return to work after having children. “The increase in the number of child care places and the associated expenses are not enough to meet demand,” Sell said. “We need morewe) workers, but they are becoming increasingly rare, if not impossible to find.

The country has nearly 900,000 trained childcare professionals working in the sector, but about 125,000 job vacancies, according to a report published in June by Paritätische Gesamtverband, an umbrella association of health and social work organisations.

In an illustrative example of the measures being taken in parts of Germany in response to the crisis, the government in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia recently Suggested Allow one trained daycare worker to be responsible for up to 60 children – as long as they have support from other professionals such as musicians, gardeners or craftsmen.

The staff shortage, reflected in aged care and health care, has contributed to a national staff shortage of approximately 300,000 people. we Places, the majority in West Germany.

This problem has increased pressure on current employees, who unions say are overburdened and feeling stressed. The key issue is not wages – the average pre-tax wage for highly trained employees in Germany we The workers’ pay is 3,750 euros per month, which is below the average salary but well above the minimum wage.

Katja Ros, a daycare teacher from the northern city of Rostock, told parliament in October that many trained childcare workers were being turned away from work due to the “disastrous conditions” of the profession.

Childcare workers have one of the highest rates of sickness absence in Germany, with an average of 30 days off per year due to illness, compared to those working in childcare. The national average is 20.

as a result of, The other Regularly announcing reduced working hours or even closing at short notice, leaving children, parents – and employers – in the lurch.

“The first thing I do every morning is check my phone and see if there is a message from we “The app,” said Miriam Hauck, a working mother of an 18-month-old who lives in the Bavarian city of Augsburg.

“We get letters about twice a month asking us to pick them up early, or saying, ‘Can your child stay home?’

Hawk, who serves as an IT project manager and member of the board of directors GermanyThe Working Mothers Association said the situation was putting pressure on her job and her relationship with her partner. “You wake up in the morning and you’re afraid you’ll let someone down today,” she said.

This phenomenon disproportionately affects women.

Germany has one of the highest rates of women’s labor force participation in Europe, at about 76 percent. But this figure hides the high rate of part-time work for mothers, especially those with young children: Only 27% of mothers with children under six working full-time in 2023, compared to 91 percent of parents.

The level of part-time work among mothers is “very high” compared to other countries, said Jonas Fluchtmann, a labor market expert in the OECD’s Advanced Economies Group, adding that it has knock-on effects on women’s current and future earnings. And on their pensions.

For some mothers, working part-time is an option. But surveys suggest that many want to work more than they already do – leading economists to call for better child care as a way to boost national productivity.

The situation has left some private companies coming up with their own solutions to fill gaps in state provision. Energy company Eon sponsors 65 we Places in her city of Essen, at an annual cost of about 4,000 euros per place. The money helps pay for additional staff to improve staff-to-child ratios, making facilities more reliable.

At Berlin-based meal delivery service HelloFresh, executives have gone so far as to create in-house childcare, where parents can reserve spots to be cared for by a company nanny — one of several initiatives the company is undertaking to attract and retain employees. “Every large organization in Berlin is doing some version of this,” said Johannes Wilberg, the company’s senior vice president of people.

But most families do not have the luxury of institutional support.

Dreyer, the early years expert, said she was concerned about the impact of the crisis on children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

She pointed to studies that showed that the quality of education in a child’s early years can have a significant impact on his future.

The country’s failures we This system has “consequences for children, parents, professionals, and ultimately for society as a whole,” she said. “If we do not ensure that every child finds their place in society, prosperity and cohesion will suffer.”