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Germany: Number of part-time workers increases

August 28, 2023

The biggest increase is among men, but women are still very much in the majority in this sector. They have though seen their number of working hours go up.

 Woman holding a clock showing 2 pm
Part-time work is on the increase in GermanyImage: Christin Klose/dpa/picture alliance

The number of people working part-time in Germany rose in 2022 to around 11.8 million, as compared with some 9.2 million in 2010, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reported on Monday.

The vast majority — 9.18 million — of part-time workers were women, who saw an increase of 22% over 2010, but the greatest increase was among men: 53%, to bring the number of male part-timers to around 2.6 million.

What else did the statistics say?

The number of people in full-time employment also increased in the 12-year period, growing to 27.2 million, Destatis said. But part-time work was a bigger contributor to the overall growth in employment, at 28%, which, Destatis said, "could be a sign that in sum, full-time jobs are being replaced by part-time employment."

However, part-time workers tended to work longer hours in 2022 than in 2010, with a working week last year of 21.2 hours compared with 18.4 hours 12 years previously, according to the statistics. Here, the biggest increase, 16%, was seen among women, who worked 21.7 hours a week, with men working 19.5 hours, a rise of 14%.

In contrast, full-time workers saw their working week shorten by around half an hour — from 40.6 hours in 2010 to 40 hours in 2022.

In this sector, women worked a little less than men, at 39.2 hours per week compared with 40.4 hours.

The two opposite trends resulted in an overall working week of 34.3 hours, down by 0.4 hours — or 24 minutes — in 2010.

What is different about Germany's work culture?

04:46

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tj/ab (AFP, dpa)

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