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Germany actually has an extremely small public sector at 12.9% of all people in the workforce. Compare to neighboring countries like the Czech Republic (15.4%), Poland (23.6%) or Denmark (30.2%).

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_public_se...

Are you saying that Berlin is an outlier in Germany, then? My perception (looking from outside) has always been that their public sector is just completely understaffed.

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Berlin has a work force of about 2.2 million people. 305k of those work for the public sector. That’s about 13.8% so above Germany’s average. However, it’s not only important how much people work for the government but also how much it pays them. And Berlin pays much better salaries than other eastern German states. 24 years ago salaries in Eastern Berlin were increased to match those payed to western Berlin employees (instead of meeting in between). So for many years the city payed waaay more than its surrounding German member state to its staff. This financial issue is amplified by the fact Berlin now has to pay much higher pensions on average for its retired personnel.

Not that I am saying your argument is wrong, but I'd be wary of comparing such vaguely defined stats across countries. What does and doesn't count as public sector is going to vary wildly and so will how much of publicly funded work is done by direct employees vs. contractors. Statistics can lie as easily as they can give you useful info.

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