At the end of June 2006 the number of public servants in Germany was about 4.6 million which is 35.000 (about 1%) less than in the year 2005. These figures were published on Saturday by the Federal Statistical Office on the occasion of the international day of public service.
These figures include all public servants from all public levels, i.e. federal, federal state and communities, but also those from social security agencies and other public institutions.
At federal level the number of public servants decreased by 4400 (-1.0%) to 477.000 people. The decrease is among other things due to personnel reduction within the German Federal Armed Forces. At the Federal state level the number of public servants decreased by 28.000 people (-1.0%) and currently stands at 2.05 million.
The strongest decrease in public servants took place at the community level where the number of employees fell by 27.000 people (-2.0%) to 1.25 million people. One of the reasons is the privatization of local hospitals.
The percentage of part-time employees among public servants increased from 29.6% to 30.2% in 2006. This is mainly due to an increased number of people being part of early retirement programmes. The number of people taking part in such programmes increased by 17.000 people (+8.0%). 