Despite a significant increase in staffing levels in recent years, the shortage of staff continues to be a major problem for many hospitals in Germany. This is shown by the results of the new 2025 Skilled Labour Monitoring report by the German Hospital Federation (DKG), which is based on a survey of 135 hospitals.

Between 2000 and 2023, the number of employees grew by 276,000 to 1.42 million. The number of professional nursing staff, the largest group in hospitals, rose from 414,478 to 528,323. However, the nursing staff initially fell by around 33,000 or ten per cent between 2001 and 2007.

The majority of hospitals have major problems filling vacancies. In the area of nursing staff with three years of training in general wards alone, an average of around 21 positions cannot be filled in hospitals with staffing problems. Despite the high number of training places, the situation remains tense, which is also due to the major trend towards part-time employment, which reduces the actual available personnel capacities.

In addition to retirements, hospitals see a lack of (suitable) applicants as the main reason for staffing problems in the nursing sector.