At the moment, 11,602 men are doing their community service, of which almost 3,000 started in the first quarter of 2023. At the moment, this can cover 88 percent of the need for civil servants, said Claudia Plakolm (ÖVP), State Secretary for Youth and Civil Affairs, at a presentation of these figures on Thursday.
On the three starting dates at the beginning of January, February and March, a total of 2,937 men were placed in one of the 1,515 institutions, 1.2 percent more than the previous year. At 88.1 percent, demand coverage was also slightly above the value of the previous year. However, Plakolm emphasized that the first quarter is always the worst allocation rate, as many young men are still in training at this point. She called on future civil servants to apply for the first half of the year.
Rescue service largest application area
With currently 4,555 civil servants employed, the rescue service is still the largest field of application, followed by social and disability care (3,165), elderly care (1,234), hospitals (982) and childcare (528). According to the State Secretary, up to three-quarters of civil servants would remain in some form of their organization after leaving the civil service. Many young men come into contact with the social sector for the first time as community service and that is a good thing, because “not only do we need more women in technology, but also more men in the social sector”.
Plakolm did not want to change the nine-month community service. More than 5,000 men decided to do community service in the first three months of this year and filed their community service declaration, which is an increase of three percent compared to the previous year and shows that community service is very popular, according to Plakolm.
Community service must become more attractive
But she wants to work on the ‘qualitative attractiveness’ of the civil service. The transition to social professions must be made easier for civil servants and the civil service must be of merit, for example for those who want to study nursing.
Since “difficult-to-classify figures appear repeatedly throughout the year” for community service, she plans to present current figures at the end of each quarter in the future. She also wanted to present a different field of application for civil servants each time. So today it was four paramedics that Plakolm invited to the press conference.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
