Despite high demand: unemployment is also rising among carers

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A carer pushes an elderly woman in a wheelchair

Christophe Gateau / dpa

In the corona crisis, the unemployment of care workers has also increased. In the care of the elderly, the number of unemployed German employees rose by 27 percent to around 27,700 between the turn of the year and the end of June, and in the foreign by 37 percent to around 10,000, according to the Federal Employment Agency.

The numbers come from a response by the federal government to a request from the AfD parliamentary group. The daily newspaper "Welt" and the editorial network Germany (RND) had previously reported.

In nursing, the number of unemployed rose by 23 percent to almost 9,000 German employees, and among foreign workers by 28 percent to just under 3,900. The reasons given by the Federal Agency include fewer new hires and a more difficult job placement during the corona pandemic.

Those who keep their jobs are poorly paid

More than every fourth nurse in Germany belongs to the low-wage sector. A low wage is paid that is less than two thirds of the average hourly wage of full-time employees. According to figures from the Federal Agency, 28.3 percent of geriatric nurses fall into this category. In the east of Germany the proportion is therefore significantly higher at 40.7 percent, in the west it is 25.3 percent.

Helpers in geriatric care who have not completed any specialist training are particularly affected. Here, the low-wage share is 58 percent nationwide and even 78.5 percent in eastern Germany. The fact that geriatric nurses are urgently needed in many places has apparently hardly been reflected in wages so far.

Accordingly, there are also major differences between German and foreign nursing staff. Nationwide, 25.6 percent of full-time German geriatric nurses worked in the low-wage sector, but 42.6 percent of foreigners.

rai / dpa / afp