Kindergartens in Germany are in crisis, with understaffing destroying the lives of working parents, harming the nation’s productivity and threatening the future prospects of a generation of children.
A shortage of trained childcare workers in the EU’s biggest economy is causing overcrowding in kindergartens, emergency closures and shortages of vacancies — with wide-ranging consequences for families, businesses and the labor market.
“The situation has never been more alarming,” said Rahel Dreyer, one of Germany’s leading early education experts. “I experience it daily in my interactions with [childcare] professionals, with parents who are on the last line and children who are exhausted by too many groups.”
Parents in Germany have some of the lowest childcare costs of any developed country, albeit with large regional differences that mean fees can vary from zero to around €1,200 a month.
But that fact masks deep problems within the reliability and quality of care.
While Olaf Scholz’s coalition government this year pushed through new laws and additional funding for kitasas kindergartens for children under the age of six are known in Germany, the bill did not fulfill the hopes of many experts. Child care is already playing a role in the campaign for February’s parliamentary elections, with the main parties promising steps to tackle the crisis.
Government spending on day care has grown significantly over the past 15 years, with the German public sector spending a net amount of around €46 billion in 2023 as it expands the number of places. That figure represents about 1.2 percent of GDP, up from about 0.7 percent in 2009, according to Stefan Sell, a professor of economics and social policy at the University of Applied Sciences in Koblenz.
Despite Germany declining fertility ratedemand for additional places is increasing as more mothers return to work after giving birth. “The increase in child care spaces and the associated costs are not nearly enough to meet the demand,” Sell said. “We need even more [kita] workers, but they are becoming increasingly rare, if not impossible to find.”
The country has close to 900,000 trained childcare professionals employed in the sector, but there are around 125,000 unfilled jobs, according to a report published in June by the Paritätische Gesamtverband, an umbrella association of health and social work organisations.
As an illustration of the measures being taken in parts of Germany in response to the crisis, the government in North Rhine-Westphalia recently suggested allowing one trained nursery worker to be responsible for up to 60 children — as long as they are supported by other professionals such as musicians, gardeners or craftsmen.
Staffing shortages, affecting aged care and health care, have contributed to a shortage of around 300,000 across the country whale places, most in western Germany.
The problem has increased pressure on existing staff, who unions say are overworked and stressed. The primary problem is not pay — the median pre-tax salary for highly skilled Germans whale worker is 3,750 euros per month, which is lower than the average wage, but far above the minimum wage.
Many trained kindergarten workers were turned away because of the “disastrous conditions” of the profession, Katja Ross, a kindergarten teacher from the northern city of Rostock, told parliament in October.
Those who work in kindergartens have one of the highest sickness absence rates in Germany, with an average of 30 days off per year due to sickness, compared to national average 20.
As a result, kitas they regularly announce reduced hours or even close at short notice, leaving children and parents — and their employers — in the lurch.
“The first thing I do every morning is check my phone and see if there are any messages from whale app,” said Mirjam Hock, a working mother of an 18-month-old child who lives in the Bavarian city of Augsburg.
“We get messages about twice a month asking us to pick her up early or saying: can your child stay at home?”
Hock, who works as an IT project manager and sits on the board of directors GermanyAssociation of Working Mothers, said that the situation burdened her work and her relationship with her partner. “You wake up in the morning and you’re afraid you’re going to let someone down today,” she said.
The phenomenon disproportionately affects women.
Germany has one of the highest female labor force participation rates in Europe, at around 76 percent. But that figure masks the high rate of part-time work for mothers, especially those with young children: only 27 percent of mothers with children under six working full-time in 2023, compared to 91 percent of fathers.
Jonas Fluchtmann, a labor market expert at the OECD Group of Advanced Economies, said the level of part-time work among mothers was “very high” compared to other countries, adding that this had knock-on effects on women’s current and future earnings and for their pensions.
For some mothers, working part-time is a choice. But surveys show that many want to work more than they actually do – leading economists to advocate better childcare as a way to boost national productivity.
The situation has forced some private companies to come up with their own solutions to fill the gaps in government supply. The energy company Eon is sponsoring the 65th whale places in his hometown of Essen, at an annual cost of approximately €4,000 per place. The funds help pay for additional staff to improve the staff-to-child ratio, making the facilities more reliable.
At Berlin-based meal delivery service HelloFresh, executives have gone so far as to set up in-house childcare, where parents can reserve spots to be looked after by a company nanny – one of several initiatives the company has taken to attract and retain staff. “Every major organization in Berlin is doing some version of this,” said Johannes Willberg, the company’s senior vice president of people.
But most families don’t have the luxury of corporate support.
Dreyer, an early years expert, said she is concerned about the impact of the crisis on disadvantaged children.
She highlighted studies that show that the quality of education in the first years of a child’s life can have a significant impact on their future.
Disadvantages of the country whale The system had “consequences for children, parents, professionals and ultimately society as a whole,” she said. “If we don’t make sure that every child finds their place in society, prosperity and cohesion will suffer.”
