Federal Employment Agency: Despite the pandemic, the number of nursing staff is increasing

After more than two years of the corona pandemic, the Hochtaunus clinics in Bad Homburg have now also lost nurses.

Actually, there is little fluctuation, says Christian Scharf, who has been in charge of the intensive care unit for many years.

“Now some have said: end.

We can't take it anymore.” Scharf and the clinic management are now looking – like so many hospitals in the country – for new employees.

Not an easy task: “The market is empty.

You can't find anyone," he says.

Britta Beeger

Editor in Business.

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Stories like the one from Bad Homburg can be heard anecdotally from almost all clinics in Germany: Nursing staff everywhere are resigning or reducing their working hours.

And yet the hospitals and old people's homes obviously continue to hire more nurses than they lose.

As the Federal Employment Agency (BA) announced on Tuesday on the occasion of the "International Day of Nurses", which takes place on Thursday, the number of employees in nursing has recently continued to rise despite the enormous burden of the corona pandemic.

Nursing and elderly care with a plus

According to BA statistics, 1.67 million people worked in care last year, around 44,000 more than a year earlier.

Both nursing and geriatric care recorded a significant increase: in nursing, the number of employees subject to social security contributions grew to around 1.04 million, in geriatric care to around 627,000

.

In the past five years, employment in nursing has increased more than employment as a whole: by 9 percent in nursing and by 12 percent in geriatric care.

Across all occupational groups, however, the increase was only around 5 percent.

This trend has so far continued during the pandemic, as the Federal Employment Agency emphasizes.

In fact, even in the first Corona year 2020, the healthcare sector was one of the few sectors that was not affected by a decline in employment.

At the same time, however, the BA statistics show how great the shortage of skilled workers in nursing is today.

For example, there are currently 12,900 registered positions for nursing professionals, with only 5,400 unemployed.

Only 3,300 unemployed are registered for 12,500 jobs in geriatric care.

And the demand will continue to rise in the future due to demographic change and the increasing number of people in need of care.

The situation is different for unskilled workers: there are significantly more applicants than positions.

High proportion of part-time work

In addition to the demographic development, the shortage of staff in the clinics and old people's homes can also be explained in part by the high proportion of part-time employees.

According to a special evaluation by the Federal Employment Agency, almost three fifths of those employed in care do not work full-time.

The proportion is higher among women (62 percent) than among men (40 percent).

However, the BA does not expect that the compulsory vaccination in the healthcare sector, which came into force in mid-March, will have any significant impact on employment in nursing.

The data is always available with a delay of six months, she said.

The unemployment reports from the nursing professions have so far been “rather inconspicuous”.

Salaries in nursing have also been rising faster than average for years.

However, the average salary of 3392 euros is still just below the average salary across all occupations.

There are clear differences between the various nursing professions.

According to the special evaluation, a nurse in the hospital recently earned an average of 3771 euros.

In inpatient facilities and in outpatient services, it was more than 300 or more than 600 euros less.