Nuremberg (dts news agency) – The volume of work in Germany rose to 14.7 billion hours in the second quarter of 2024. This was an increase of 0.8 percent compared to the same quarter last year, the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) announced on Tuesday. It thus exceeded the pre-coronavirus level for the first time.
“In Germany, people have never worked so much – in the middle of the economic downturn,” said IAB researcher Enzo Weber. Seasonally and calendar-adjusted, the IAB shows an increase of 0.3 percent compared to the previous quarter. “But a further increase is not a given,” said Weber. “Employment growth is leveling off significantly, the part-time rate is climbing to almost 40 percent and fewer overtime hours are being worked than ever before.”
The number of employed persons rose by 0.4 percent in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the same quarter of the previous year, reaching 46.1 million people. Working hours per employed person showed a slight increase of 0.4 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year – they averaged 318.2 hours in the second quarter of 2024. Hourly productivity fell by 0.4 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
The part-time employment rate recorded a sharp increase of 0.5 percentage points compared to the same quarter last year and stood at 39.8 percent in the second quarter of 2024. The number of part-time employees increased by 1.6 percent, while the number of full-time employees fell slightly by 0.3 percent. According to the institute, one of the reasons for this is an increase in employment, particularly in sectors with a high proportion of part-time workers, such as health and social services and education.
Compared to the same quarter last year, paid and unpaid overtime fell slightly by 0.3 hours each. On average, employees worked 2.9 paid and 4.1 unpaid hours of overtime in the second quarter of 2024. Around 4.56 million employees had a secondary job. This is 2.9 percent more than in the second quarter of 2023. This development follows the long-term upward trend, although the increases have recently been weaker.
Photo: Construction worker (archive), via dts news agency
Photo/Source: dts
