Germany’s kindergartens are in crisis, with staff shortages ruining the lives of working parents, undermining the nation’s productivity and jeopardizing the future prospects of a generation of children.

A shortage of trained childcare workers in the EU’s biggest economy is causing overcrowding in day-care centres, emergency closures and a lack of available places – with far-reaching consequences for families, for businesses and the labor market.

“The situation has never been more alarming,” said Rahel Dreyer, one of Germany’s leading authorities on early years education. “I experience it every day in my interactions with (child care) professionals, with parents who are completely at their limit and with children who are tired of groups that are too large.”

Parents in Germany have some of the lowest childcare costs of any developed country, although there are stark regional differences which mean fees can range from zero to €1,200 in a month.

But that reality hides deep problems within the reliability and quality of care.

While Olaf Scholz’s coalition government this year pushed for new legislation and additional funding for the otherbecause the day care facilities for the under-six are known in Germany, the bill failed the hopes of many experts. Child care played a role in the campaign for the parliamentary elections in February, with the major parties promising measures to tackle the crisis.

Government spending on day care has increased significantly over the past 15 years, with the German public sector spending a net amount of around €46bn by 2023 while expanding 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 economic and social policy at Koblenz University of Applied Sciences.

Even in Germany decrease in fertility ratethe need for more places is growing as more mothers return to work after having children. “The growth in the number of child care spaces and the associated spending is not nearly enough to meet the demand,” Sell said. “We need more (we) workers, but they are becoming rarer, if not impossible to find.

The country has around 900,000 trained childcare professionals working 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. for health and social work organizations.

In an illustration of the steps taken by parts of Germany in response to the crisis, the government of North Rhine-Westphalia recently proposed allowing a trained day-care worker to be responsible for up to 60 children – as long as there is support from other professionals such as musicians, gardeners or craftsmen.

Staffing shortages, mirrored in aged care and health care, have contributed to a national shortage of nearly 300,000 we areas, mostly in western Germany.

The problem is increasing pressure on existing staff, who unions say are overburdened and overburdened. The main issue is not a salary – the median wage pre-tax for the highly trained in Germany we workers on €3,750 a month, below the average salary but above the minimum wage.

Many trained childcare workers are being put off by “detrimental conditions for the profession”, Katja Ross, a daycare teacher from the northern city of Rostock told parliament in October.

Those working in childcare suffer one of the highest rates of sickness absence in Germany, with an average of 30 days of sick leave per year, compared to national average of 20.

Because of this, the other often announce restricted opening hours or even close at short notice, leaving children and parents – and their employers – distraught.

“The first thing I do every morning is to check my phone and see if there is a message from we app,” said Mirjam Hock, a working mother of an 18-month-old who lives in the Bavarian city of Augsburg.

“We get messages about twice a month where they ask us to pick him up early, or say: can your child stay at home?”

Hock, who works as an IT project manager and sits on the board of Germany’s‘s Association of Working Mothers, said the situation put stress on her work and her relationship with her partner. “You wake up in the morning and you’re afraid that someone is going to fail you today,” he 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 hides high rates of part-time work for mothers, especially those with young children: Only 27 percent of mothers with children under the age of six working full time by 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 has implications for women’s current and future earnings. and for their pensions.

For some mothers, part-time work is an option. But surveys suggest many want to work more than they do – leading economists to argue for better childcare as a way to boost national productivity.

The situation leaves some private businesses with their own solutions to fill the gaps in state provision. Energy company Eon sponsors 65 we areas in his home town of Essen, at an annual cost of roughly €4,000 per area. The funds help pay for additional staff to improve staff-child ratios, making the facilities more reliable.

At Berlin-based food delivery service HelloFresh, executives have gone so far as to set up in-house childcare, where parents can book nanny slots of the company – one of many business initiatives to attract and retain staff. “Every major organization in Berlin does some version of this,” says Johannes Willberg, the company’s senior vice-president of people.

But most families don’t have the luxury of corporate back-up.

Dreyer, the early years expert, said he was concerned about the impact of the crisis on children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

He pointed to studies that show that the quality of education in a child’s early years can have a significant impact on their future.

The failures of the country we The system has “consequences for children, parents, professionals, and ultimately society as a whole”, he said. “If we don’t make sure that every child finds his place in society, then progress and unity will suffer.”