ifo Dresden berichtet 04/2018

Does Saxony have too much public staff? Why a comparison with other federal states can be misleading

The East German Flächenländer, including the Free State of Saxony, have a significantly higher per capita personnel input in the öffentlichen service than the West German Flächenländer. However, it is not easy to conclude from this that there is corresponding potential for savings. We show that there are considerable limits to a comparison of personnel levels between the federal states. Differences in the institutional structures, a different distribution of tasks between the state and the municipalities, but also statistical uncertainties in the allocation of personnel to task areas can lead to distorted results and thus to misinterpretations in a comparison of the states.

Bauer, David and Ragnitz, Joachim