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Bus and tram drivers: warning strike in Schwerin

Photo: Jens Büttner/dpa

The majority of bus and tram drivers in Germany are older than 55 years, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). The proportion of this group was 40 percent in 2022, significantly higher than among all employed people in Germany (26 percent), as the authority reports.

More and more bus and tram drivers are needed for local transport to function: Although the number of drivers increased by almost 6 percent to 145,000 from 2021 to 2022, “a significant number of them are likely to be out of the workforce in the next few years leave,” which could lead to additional staff shortages.

A quarter with foreign nationality

The comparatively large number of older bus drivers and tram drivers are compared to few young professional colleagues under the age of 35: just under 14 percent were recently represented in this age group. For comparison: At just over 30 percent, the proportion of 15 to 34 year olds among those in employment was more than twice as high.

In addition to young people, women are also significantly underrepresented in the professional group with a share of 15 percent. The proportion of women in employment in Germany as a whole was 47 percent in 2022. Almost a quarter of the drivers of buses and trams had foreign nationality, and this was the case for 14 percent of the employed population as a whole.

According to the Federal Employment Agency's skills shortage analysis, the profession of bus and tram driver was one of the shortage professions in 2022. When determining a bottleneck, for example, consideration is given to whether there are a relatively large number of unfilled positions in the respective profession in Germany or how long it takes on average to fill them.

This Friday, the Ver.di union is on strike in the local public transport of around 130 municipal companies. The collective bargaining dispute involves issues such as fewer weekly working hours with full wage compensation, shorter shifts, the reduction of unpaid travel time, an expansion of rest periods, more vacation or additional days of relief.

mamk/dpa-AFX