- Municipalities struggle with skills shortages
The shortage of skilled workers is also increasingly straining Thuringian municipal administrations. "The situation in some areas can currently be described as tense," says Christian Bettels of the city administration of Altenburg, for example.
The situation is assessed similarly in Jena, Gera, Erfurt, Suhl, and Eisenach. Above all, in highly specialized personnel - such as in high-rise construction, but also in the social and IT sectors or with the fire department - many municipalities are reporting problems with recruiting personnel. In all administrations, the sometimes high sickness rate is causing additional difficulties: time and again, replacements for sick employees have to be sought or tasks have to be shifted internally to mitigate absences.
In Altenburg, there are currently eleven job vacancies from almost all areas of the city administration, according to Bettels. However, it is already apparent that the personnel requirement will increase in the coming years due to the retirement of older employees. Eisenach also has eleven unfilled positions. Basically, the number of applicants has been decreasing in recent months, but almost all positions have been filled, says a spokeswoman for the city. So far, there have been hardly any effects on processing times, but there have been some shortened opening hours in the library.
Job tickets and home office as incentives
In Suhl, it has sometimes taken two or three rounds of applications to find suitable employees, says spokesman Steven Bickel. There are particularly open positions for administrative specialists in the middle and upper service, with a total of around 16 so-called full-time equivalents. "Basically, employers in the public sector also have to offer more to even receive applications," he says. These range from job tickets and bicycles to financial incentives and home office options.
"The city administration is basically operational despite the shortage of skilled workers," summarizes spokeswoman Heike Dobenecker the situation in the Erfurt city administration. However, the shortage is particularly noticeable in professions that are also in high demand and often better paid outside the public sector. For example, it was not possible to find a new department head for the Unix operating systems after an employee left - there were not even suitable applications. Basically, there are "challenges in recruiting" in all areas with specific requirements for applicants.
In Gera, a spokeswoman says there is a particularly high demand for personnel. There are currently 188 unfilled positions across the entire administration. In total, about one fifth of the positions are not filled, to which absences due to illness, parental leave, or vacation are added. Due to the budget situation, there was a hiring freeze in the Gera administration, which was lifted at the beginning of July 2024. The current situation is also affecting the basic offers of the city administration: those who want to make an appointment with the citizen service currently have to wait until October, it is said.
In Jena, there are currently 40 positions waiting to be filled, according to a spokeswoman. There are particularly staff shortages in the social sector and in the housing benefit office. While the citizen service is functioning normally, the waiting time at the driver's license office is currently five weeks, and there are also longer waiting times for registrations at the registry office. The citizenship authority is particularly affected: here, one has to wait between 12 and 14 months for an appointment.
In response to the widespread skill shortage, the situation in Gera is also considered tense. Due to the high demand for personnel in various sectors, there are currently 188 unfilled positions across the Gera administration.
