Press release No. N 032 of 11 May 2021
- Earnings of full-time skilled staff such as nurses rose by 32.9%; for skilled staff in care homes the increase was 38.6%
- Shift and weekend work are the general rule in long-term care
- Growing interest in training for care professions: number of new apprentices in 2019 up 39% on ten years earlier
- Number of recognised foreign professional qualifications in nursing care has been rising for years
WIESBADEN – There was a lack of nursing staff in Germany even before the coronavirus crisis. Since the pandemic broke out, however, there have been more and more reports about staff shortage and overburdened nurses in hospitals and homes and there have been many demands for better payment of nurses. Average gross monthly earnings of full-time skilled staff in hospitals and homes, including nurses, rose by roughly one third over the last ten years. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that gross earnings of full-time skilled hospital staff, such as nurses, were by 32.9% higher in 2020 than in 2010. In the same period, the increase in gross monthly earnings of skilled staff in old people's homes was the same (+32.8%), and for skilled staff in care homes it was slightly higher (38.6%). In all three groups, the increase in earnings over the last ten years was markedly larger than the 21.2% increase in the overall economy (industry and services).
