Red alert: Saxony needs thousands of new nursing staff by 2040!

Red alert: Saxony needs thousands of new nursing staff by 2040!

The care industry in Saxony is facing a huge challenge, and the extent of the situation cannot be underestimated. By 2040, almost 50% of positions in the nursing sector will have to be filled because many employees are leaving the profession due to age. Report from lvz.de shows that the need for qualified nursing staff is increasing dramatically due to the aging population and the ever-increasing number of people in need of care. Up to 21,000 full-time employees are needed in Saxony alone. This development is unsustainable because more than half of the nursing staff currently employed work part-time, which further increases the actual staffing requirements.

A look at the current situation shows that in May 2023, 650 nursing staff were registered as unemployed in Saxony, while at the same time there were 1,400 open positions waiting for skilled workers. In purely mathematical terms, this corresponds to two vacancies per nursing assistant lvz.de reported. Klaus-Peter Hansen, head of the state employment agency, emphasizes that the sector is suffering from a shortage of skilled workers and that this urgently needs to be counteracted.

Demographic change as a challenge

A further look at the situation shows that demographic change is contributing significantly to the shortage of nursing staff. The Federal Statistical Office informs that it is not just the number of people in need of care that is increasing - around 2.74 million people are expected to be in need of care by 2049 (+52%). The aging of society continues to influence this imbalance, as the baby boomer generation in particular is increasingly reaching retirement age. This leads to a significant gap in the labor market, which particularly affects the care industry.

The challenges are also increasing because many older nursing staff will be retiring in the next few years and young people in nursing professions are rare. A disproportionate number of older employees are needed to cope with the future increase in those in need of care. The image of the nursing profession, which has suffered over the years, also plays a significant role. If the picture under pressure changes, we can probably breathe a sigh of relief.

Measures to improve the situation

A ray of hope in the dark trend reversal can be seen in the AWO Sachsen-West, where the number of trainees in nursing professions is almost twice as high as it was a short time ago. This year, 40 new apprentices are starting their training, indicating growing interest. Pay has also improved: In the first year of training, prospective skilled workers receive 1,340 euros per month. Loud lvz.de The median salary for nursing staff has now risen by a third, from just under 3,000 euros gross in 2019 to around 3,800 euros in 2023.

Another sign of hope is the immigration of skilled workers from abroad. AWO Sachsen-West specifically recruited nursing staff from the Philippines; they only complete an adaptation course in order to work here. The aim is also to integrate Vietnamese into the training. The proportion of foreigners in nursing professions in Saxony was between 6% and 8% in the previous year, with an increasing trend.

With all of these developments, the search for skilled workers, especially in rural areas, remains a challenge. The statistics show an alarming situation, but hope dies last: a combination of collectively agreed pay and better working conditions could mean that the nursing profession will soon emerge as an attractive option for new generations.