exclusive
The former traffic light coalition created more than 1,600 additional civil service positions in the federal authorities. This is what research by Report Mainz shows. The taxpayers' association speaks of an XXL administration and calls for a reduction in bureaucracy.
The number of permanent positions assigned to the respective federal ministries increased noticeably during the government of the SPD, B'90/Greens and FDP. This is shown by an evaluation by the ARD political magazine Mainz report.
The basis for this was the federal budget plans for the years 2021 to 2024 and the traffic light draft for the 2025 financial year. The data refers to the so-called “business areas” of the federal ministries (excluding replacement positions and subordinate areas), which are listed in the general overview tables.
Accordingly, in 2021, at the end of the grand coalition, 20,458 civil servants were still working for the respective federal ministries – most recently this number was 22,087. During the traffic light government, 1,629 additional positions were created, an increase of eight percent. Although the number of employees – people without civil servant status – fell in the same period, the bottom line was that there was a net increase of 1,443 jobs – an increase of 5.1 percent.
Largest increase in personnel in the Ministry of Health
The Federal Ministry of Health under the leadership of Karl Lauterbach (SPD) recorded the largest increase in personnel during the traffic light government with an increase of 12.1 percent. This is followed by the Federal Ministry of Economics under Robert Habeck (B'90/Greens) with 11.7 percent and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development under Svenja Schulze (B'90/Greens) with 11.1 percent.
The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital, led by Volker Wissing (Ex-FDP), recorded 8.2 percent more jobs, the Ministry of Defense under Boris Pistorius (SPD) 6.3 percent and the Federal Chancellery's division an increase of 4.7 percent. Overall, the personnel costs of all federal authorities, including subordinate areas, rose to 43.5 billion euros in 2024, which is a good fifth more than in 2021.
Taxpayers' Association calls for a turnaround
When asked, Reiner Holznagel, President of the Taxpayers' Association, spoke of an “XXL state administration” that the traffic light government had created. “Therefore, an interdepartmental personnel concept that no longer relies so heavily on civil servants is overdue,” said Holznagel. He calls for a “change in bureaucracy that also includes the bloated public administration.” In the federal ministries he can imagine a “dissolution of the departments and a merging of competencies”.
The now broken traffic light government created an additional ministry in 2021 with the Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Construction under Klara Geywitz (SPD). Construction and housing policy had previously been the responsibility of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, which was the only department to lose staff, around nine percent, during the traffic light government.
BDA criticizes the build-up of bureaucracy
Steffen Kampeter, General Manager of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA), fears that the increase in jobs in the federal ministries will have long-term disadvantages for the domestic economy.
“Ever larger and larger devices are looking for ever larger tasks. A flood of bureaucrats leads to a flood of regulations,” Kampeter wrote in a statement. “We therefore need simpler regulation. But reducing bureaucracy must be accompanied by reducing bureaucracy.”
Corona pandemic and war in Ukraine as reasons
When asked, the federal ministries rejected criticism of the job creation during the traffic light coalition. The Federal Ministry of Health mentions “the pandemic-related (prevention) tasks in the context of public health and the diverse challenges in relation to the efficient care of the insured.”
The Federal Ministry of Finance, which was headed by Christian Lindner (FDP) until the beginning of November, also cites additional tasks as a reason for the increase in staff, for example the fight “against tax evasion, financial market crime and money laundering”.
The Ministry of Defense recalls the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, which “significantly increased the tasks and processes to be carried out”. As part of the reorganization, however, it was possible to “slightly reduce the number of positions in the ministry”. The Federal Ministry of Economics left an inquiry about job creation unanswered.
FDP budgetary: Better than grand coalition
Otto Fricke, the budget policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, points the finger at the grand coalition, which, according to his calculations, has created “around 10,500 new civil servant positions in the ministries”. The traffic light coalition “at least managed to get by with far less than half.” Because of the war in Ukraine, the energy price caps and the accelerated equipping of the Bundeswehr, “we had to hire additional staff,” says Fricke.
However, the budget politician is also self-critical of the broken traffic light coalition and admits: “Many ministries have asked for additional staff for additional tasks without first critically examining which established tasks the effort has decreased and which staff can be withdrawn.”
