comprises the reimbursement of health care costs and continues at a lower level during retirement. As appointment is considered life-long no unemployment insurance is paid. This means that their income after tax is much higher than that of other civil servants or workers in private companies with a comparable gross salary. Designations of office In the German civil service (regardless of whether concerning the federal government, the 16 states or other entities), the official title of designation held by the Beamter is tied to one of the salary grades of the Federal Payment Act, on which the individual states base their own remuneration legislation. The following lists are very generalized, especially in order B Beamte tend to have very specialized titles; thus, mayors, ambassadors, lords-lieutenant of districts and provinces will be fitted in somewhere depending on the importance of their office. For information's sake, judges and federal ministers who are not Beamte are included (Staatsanwälte are, though). In the table, the same thing has been done to the general military ranks (without notice of naval ranks and other deviations). Lower service A1: Amtsgehilfe (now abolished) A2: Oberamtsgehilfe, Wachtmeister A3: Hauptamtsgehilfe, Oberwachtmeister A4: Amtsmeister, Hauptwachtmeister A5: Oberamtsmeister, Erster Hauptwachtmeister A6: Oberamtsmeister, Erster Hauptwachtmeister Middle Service: A5: Werkführer, Assistant (now rare) A6: Werkmeister, Oberassistent, Sekretär A7: Meister, Obersekretär A8: Obermeister, Hauptsekretär, e.g. Brandobermeister (fire fighter), Polizeiobermeister (policeman) A9: Hauptmeister, Amtsinspektor Upper service A9: Inspektor, f.e. Regierungsinspektor A10: Oberinspektor A11: Amtmann A12: Amtsrat A13: Oberamtsrat Upper service at the police (police officer) A9: Kommissar, f.e. Kriminalkommissar or Polizeikommissar A10: Oberkommissar A11: Hauptkommissar A12: Hauptkommissar A13: Erster Hauptkommissar, f.e. Erster Kriminal- or Polizeihauptkommissar Senior Service A13: Rat, e.g.: Studienrat, Akademischer Rat, Major, Medizinalrat, Baurat, Bibliotheksrat, Verwaltungsrat, Regierungsrat A14: Oberrat, e.g. Akademischer Oberrat, Oberstudienrat, Chemieoberrat, Biologieoberrat, Oberregierungsrat A15: Direktor, e.g. Polizeidirektor, Kriminaldirektor, Psychologiedirektor, Pharmaziedirektor, A16: Leitender Direktor, e.g. Leitender Finanzdirektor, Leitender Medizinaldirektor, Ministerialrat, Oberstudiendirektor B1: Direktor und Professor B2: Abteilungsdirektor (Director of a Department) B3: Ministerialrat (Ministerial ~ counsellor/Counsellor [councillorBE, councilorAE] to the Ministry) B4: Erster Direktor B5: Ministerialdirigent (on state level in positions of lesser importance) B6: Ministerialdirigent (on federal level) B7: Präsident (of larger federal offices) B8: Präsident (of a limited number of federal offices) B9: Ministerialdirektor (~Undersecretary of State), Bürgermeister (Lord Mayor) B10: Präsident der BaFin) (and other rare posts) B11: Staatssekretär (state secretary – this applies only to permanent, not parliamentary, secretaries of state, though federal parliamentary secretaries receive similar payment)