Editing Beamter (section)

==Fields of work==
The status of Beamter is held by administrative officials, but also by policemen, prison guards, customs officers, most teachers and university professors, and other professionals in the public service, and by certain holders of political offices such as mayors (but not ministers, who have a peculiar, but similar, status governed by public law). For holders of political office, the status of Beamter is not permanent, only applying during the term of office. Furthermore, while most teachers in the Western states of Germany are Beamte, this is not necessarily the case in Eastern states. [[Berlin]], for example, abolished the status of Beamter for teachers in 2005, but reintroduced it in 2023.

Formerly, Beamter status used to be bestowed more liberally. As it results in permanent tenure, there are still many Beamte amongst those working for the German post office ([[Deutsche Post]] and [[Deutsche Telekom]]), the railway services ([[Deutsche Bahn]]), and other public utility companies, many of which are either no longer state-owned or have been converted into companies governed by private rather than public law. New employees at those entities are no longer made Beamte. Privatisation and reductions in the number of established posts have reduced the overall number of Beamte.  Since 1991, the number of Beamte has declined by 1.4 million to around 3.9 million. This meant that, as of January 2007, reunited Germany had fewer Beamte than the old Federal Republic of Germany.<ref>[[:de:Beamter]]</ref>

Local authority staff is split: about one-third are Beamte, mostly in higher administrative positions, and two-thirds are ordinary employees.