The demand from parents for daycare places has continued to rise in recent years, and the number of educators and caregivers cannot keep up. According to a study, hundreds of thousands of places in day-care centers are missing. Investments in the billions are needed to close the gap.
According to calculations, there will be a shortage of up to 383,600 daycare places across Germany in the coming year. In a published calculation for the so-called state monitoring of early childhood education systems, the Bertelsmann Foundation announced that western German states in particular could not yet cover the need for care. According to this, 362,400 places are missing in the west and 21,200 in the east.
In order to cover the need for care, an additional 93,700 specialists would have to be hired in the west and 4,900 in the east. This would result in additional costs of 4.3 billion euros. In addition, there would be operating and possible construction costs for the day-care centers. According to the Bertelsmann Foundation, the calculations show that, especially in the west, the demand for daycare places is higher than the proportion of children who were cared for in 2021.
The shortage is greatest in North Rhine-Westphalia with 101,600 missing places. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Thuringia, on the other hand, no space expansion is necessary. In the city-states, the situation is very different. While the undersupply in Berlin is seven percent, it is 13 percent in Bremen and three percent in Hamburg. The need for expansion also differs according to age. There is a lack of 250,300 places in the West for children under the age of three and 112,100 places for children over the age of three. In East Germany, including Berlin, the numbers are 20,700 and 500, respectively.
For the calculation, data from the statistical offices of the federal government and the federal states from the child and youth welfare statistics and other official statistics were evaluated. “Despite the massive expansion of day care centers in recent years, too many parents are still unable to find a place for their children,” explained Anette Stein from the Bertelsmann Foundation. This is unacceptable on two counts. Because children are also denied their right to professional support in early education. “It is already foreseeable that the legally enshrined right to a place in child day care will not be redeemable in many places in 2023 either,” explained Stein.
According to the calculation, 68 percent of all daycare children are currently cared for in groups that are too large. So that not only all children have a place in 2023, but also that the staffing corresponds to the scientific recommendations, 308,800 additional educators would have to be employed. That would correspond to additional costs for personnel of 13.8 billion euros per year. The Bertelsmann Foundation called on states and municipalities to push ahead with the expansion of daycare places. The additional funds from the Kita Quality Act were not sufficient. The federal government must go into the long-term financing of the daycare system on a larger scale. In addition, more skilled workers would have to be recruited quickly.
“With more staff, working conditions improve for everyone,” Stein explained. In order for better staffing to be possible in the medium term, a binding strategy is needed as to how more qualified staff will be added in the future. In the opinion of the foundation, step-by-step plans could be helpful for this. She also suggested the additional employment of housekeeping staff to relieve the staff in day-care centers. The requirements for the personnel could not be implemented with the current personnel assessment.