The loud call for an industry-wide four-day week, young people who are supposedly avoiding work. Have the Germans become lazy? According to statistics, they are among those who work the shortest hours in the EU. ntv.de explains why.
The Germans have a reputation for being hardworking. But does that still apply today? Well-known economists like Michael Hüther or Bert Rürup no longer believe this. In view of the acute shortage of skilled workers, they are calling for more commitment to secure prosperity in Germany. A European comparison of weekly working hours for 2022 proves them right. Germany is far behind here. In the Balkans, for example, people work much longer hours.
According to Eurostat, the average working time of full- and part-time employees in Germany was 35.3 hours per week last year. On average, in the EU, workers between the ages of 20 and 64 work 37.5 hours per week. Only the employees in the Netherlands were even lazier than the people here. Here, the employees collectively work an economical 33.2 hours per week. That’s almost equivalent to a four-day week, assuming an eight-hour day.
In contrast, people in the Balkan countries work much longer. Greece has 41 hours, Romania and Bulgaria each have 40.2 hours. EU accession candidate Serbia even achieved an average of 43.3 last year Shours per week. So do the hardest working people in Europe live in the Balkans?
It is true: In Germany the calls for a broadly rolled out four-day week are getting louder. On the one hand, there is a shortage of skilled workers. On the other hand, according to the frustrated feedback from HR managers, the younger generation places more value on a good work-life balance than on a career and generous pension provision for old age. Almost seven percent of 15 to 24 year olds are considered so-called Neets: “Not in Education, Employment or Training”, they do not work and are not in school or training. According to Eurostat, this puts Germany in eighth place in the EU.
Full-time versus part-time: reading numbers correctly
So how bad is Germany’s work ethic? A look at the data broken down into full-time and part-time work sheds light on the reasons for the differences between countries. The higher the part-time rate, the lower the weekly working hours in a country. With 38.4 percent of the workforce working part-time, the Dutch were the front runners in the EU in 2022. The Germans came in third with 27.9 percent.
Looking at part-time and full-time separately reveals another aspect that at least somewhat puts the image of lazy Germany into perspective: full-time employees in Germany and the Netherlands work around 40 hours a week. In this country the average is 40.5, in the Netherlands 39.5 hours. On the one hand, this is slightly less than the European average, which is 40.6 hours for full-time employees in the EU.
On the other hand, a comparison over a period of 30 years shows that the numbers for full-time employees have remained relatively constant – even though the total weekly working hours in Germany have fallen by 2.9 hours since 1992: in 1992 it was 41 for full-time employees. 4 hours, it was 40.4 in 2022. The Germans have not forgotten how to work.
Differences between Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe
The economic, political and sociological differences in the countries play an important role in working hours – whether more is worked part-time or full-time. “As economic development increases, working hours decrease,” explains DIW economist Schildmann in an interview with ntv.de. The change towards a service economy favors part-time models, as they tend to be better compatible with operational processes in the service sector. In the Balkan countries, the gross domestic product is lower compared to the EU, as are incomes, and they also have the fewest employees in the service sector. Serbia and Romania bring up the rear in the latter. Under these conditions, it is much more difficult to reduce working hours.
According to Schildmann, in southern Europe, for example Greece and Spain, the “dual labor market” – which largely consists of full-time, middle-aged to old men – was the dominant model for a long time, according to Schildmann. Part-time work is less common here because acceptance is lower. There are few family policy instruments that encourage women to participate in the labor market. Also typical: high youth unemployment. Since there is little movement on the labor market overall, it is more difficult for young people and women to enter the labor market and the working hours of those who are employed are also rather high, continued Schildmann.
New sociocultural standards, including a different understanding of work-life balance, also play a role. In the Netherlands, for example, the compatibility of family and work is very important, explains the DIW expert. In Germany, it is not just the proportion of women working part-time that is increasing. “We are also seeing that the number of employed men who do not work full-time is increasing.” According to Schildmann, the figures provide no evidence to support the assumption that unions would drive development. “In fact, working hours per full-time employee in Germany are falling over time, although collective bargaining coverage has declined slightly.”
The question remains: Are people in Germany and the Netherlands now lazier and more hardworking elsewhere, for example in the Balkans? The increasing number of people working part-time speaks for this at first glance. Likewise, the overall weekly working hours have fallen slightly. At the same time, the full-time workers who work today work similar hours to the generation before them.
In the end, what is crucial is that countries like Germany have achieved the supposed luxury of working time models with reduced weekly working hours. People in more advanced economies have become more productive: Norway has the second highest GDP per capita in the EU, with an average weekly working time of 35.5 hours. Germany is still in 12th place.
When the economy grows, demand for work increases, wages rise and it becomes more attractive, especially for women, to enter the workforce. Many work part-time, which means fewer hours per week. Richer countries are more likely to be able to afford to subsidize social services such as childcare, which also encourages employment. The bottom line is that many people in such countries can afford to work less. That could change in Germany as a result of the numerous crises. So far, however, employees have not stepped up their game.
Regarding the data: The Eurostat data is based on the Labor Force Service, an annual household survey that the national statistical institutes in the EU carry out themselves based on specified harmonized classifications. In Germany, this survey is conducted as part of the microcensus. The weekly working hours normally worked indicate how many hours employees – including employees, self-employed people and helping family members – usually work per week, i.e. over a longer period of time. This number may differ from the contractually regulated working hours. As a rule it is higher. Vacation days, public holidays, parental leave or economic fluctuations such as short-time work are not taken into account. The basis for the text is the data from the EU-27 states plus Serbia as an EU candidate, and here the group of 20-64 year olds is considered, as this has the highest labor force participation.