The Municipal and Community Association warned of a collapse of public administration. “The lack of personnel will massively disrupt the work of public services, especially of municipalities, and can bring the provision of essential services to the brink of collapse” said Chief Executive André Berghegger to the Funke Media Group newspapers (Wednesday editions).
“In the next ten years, nearly 500,000 of the approximately 1.65 million employees in municipalities will retire.” Already today, more than 100,000 positions in municipalities are unfilled because no personnel can be found. By 2030, around 230,000 employees will be missing in municipalities. This will not only affect the processing times in the authorities. “For example, more than 50,000 bus drivers will retire in the next five years, and more than 100,000 skilled workers are already missing in kindergartens” Berghegger warned. If swift and decisive action is not taken, this will have grave consequences for citizens and the location of Germany as a whole.
The chief executive spoke of a “creeping blackout.” To maintain the operation of public administration, the use of artificial intelligence is urgently necessary, Berghegger said. “It is therefore more than reckless that the politics in Germany still has reservations about digitalization. When it comes to the use of artificial intelligence, the risks are always discussed first” criticized the chief executive. “If digitalization in Germany is continued to be implemented at a snail’s pace, we are carelessly jeopardizing our future prospects.”
Politics should no longer think of employment from the perspective of the last century, Berghegger warned. “We should develop flexible, adapted to the individual life situation, models to make the public service attractive.” Besides digital tools, “a joint or shared provision of tasks” could also play a role.