Germany's working hours dilemma: Why we do so few hours!

Germany's working hours dilemma: Why we do so few hours!

In the current discussion about working hours in Germany, exciting developments are emerging. In an international comparison, Germans occupied the third -last place in the working hours worked, which hit large waves in May 2022. It is striking that this knowledge should come from an analysis of the Institute of German Economy (IW), which, however, was classified as non -existent afterwards. This is emphasized by the “Action against Lawless Law” initiative, which initiated a critical debate about the quality and reliability of the reported data. The news gained extensive distribution through the AFP news agency, which informed many people about the state of the German labor market, despite the misleading basis of the original study, such as the Junge Welt reported.

The member of the Bundestag Friedrich Merz spoke on the CDU business day about the need to increase efficiency. But what does that mean specifically? Experts like Svenja Flechtner from the University of Siegen draw attention to the fact that the Germans worked more than ever before at 55 billion hours. At the same time, analyzes show that the average working time of full -time labor is stable at around 39 hours a week, but the part -time quota rose from 18.5 percent in 1991 to 38.5 percent in 2021. In 2021, part -time workers worked on average only 18 hours a week, in contrast to the wishes of many workers who strive for an average of 32.8 hours.

overtime and a shortage of skilled workers

Another problem that emerges from current developments is the lack of specialists in Germany, which leads to demands for longer working hours. While the average weekly working time 2023 is 35.1 hours, this is still below the EU average of 37.1 hours. It is particularly striking that the highest average working time in the EU in Greece was measured with 40.9 hours, while Germany took third place in the EU with a part -time quota of 28.5 percent.

• Average weekly working hours in Germany 2023: 35.1 hours
• EU average: 37.1 hours
• highest weekly working hours in the EU: Greece 40.9 hours
• lowest weekly working hours in the EU: Netherlands 33.1 hours

The government is now planning to replace the classic eight -hour day with a weekly maximum working time. This could be a step towards better reconciliation of professional and family life, but critics warn that this could also lead to making employees more flexible and possibly pressing wages. It is interesting to notice that the iAB counted a total of 1.3 billion overtime in 2023, more than half of which were unpaid.

work in change

The debate about working hours does not only do justice to the economy, but also to society as a whole. Work sociology has shown that the most productive hours of a working day are around 3.5 to 4 hours. Numbers from the socio-economical panel also show that the retiring working hours are also associated with the growing part-time quota. This pees out a picture that is increasingly shaped by individual wishes. Employees want more flexibility, but also see the risk that longer working hours will not necessarily lead to more productivity.

and while many employees long for shorter working hours, the part -time quota also brings the topic of unpaid care work into play. Feline Tecklenburg from the “Business is Care” initiative underlines the importance of this work for the German economy.

In a world in which the labor market is increasingly changing, it remains to be seen how these dynamics will develop in the coming years. Changes are pending and it will be exciting to see how they affect the German labor landscape.