Germany: Number of part-time workers increases

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.

tj/ab (AFP, dpa)

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