Rate increases to 31 percent
More people than ever before work part-time
April 26, 2024, 11:22 a.m
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Never before have so many people in Germany worked part-time as they currently do. A new survey by the Federal Statistical Office shows why women are more likely to work part-time than men. An expert says what needs to change.
Part-time work is more widespread in Germany than ever before. 31 percent of employees worked reduced hours last year – a total of 12.2 million, as the Federal Statistical Office announced. This is the highest part-time rate since reunification. In 2022 it was 30 percent, in 2013 it was 28 percent and in 1991 it was 14 percent. Women particularly often work part-time – especially mothers. Reduced working hours are most widespread in the nursing sector due to the high level of workload, and are least common in some of the shortage occupations needed for the energy transition, such as heating technology.
Every second woman worked part-time last year, compared to only 13 percent of men. The birth of one’s own child in particular leads to a reduction in working hours for women: 67 percent of all mothers with at least one child under the age of 18 worked part-time, but only nine percent of all fathers. “This reflects an unequal distribution of paid work,” said the director of the Economic and Social Sciences Institute (WSI) of the Hans Böckler Foundation, Bettina Kohlrausch.
Women cite children more often as a reason
A large proportion of paid work is carried out by men, while care work is predominantly carried out by women. “The latter is associated with high social risks for many women,” said Kohlrausch. The differences are less clear for employees without children. Here, the part-time rate for women was 39 percent, while 16 percent of men without children worked part-time.
There are many reasons for giving up full-time work: While 27 percent of women cited caring for children as a reason, this was only the case for just under six percent of men. For 24 percent of men, training or further education or studying was the reason for the reduced working hours, while this only applied to eight percent of women. Illness or the lack of full-time jobs can also be reasons. More than a quarter work less at their own request, without the reasons mentioned – health restrictions or other family obligations – playing a role.
High burden in the care sector
In view of the shortage of skilled workers, greater activation of part-time employees is being discussed. “However, in 2023, most of the occupations in shortage for non-academic skilled workers had a part-time proportion that was well below average,” said the statisticians. An exception are the areas of health and nursing care as well as geriatric care: here the part-time proportions were clearly above average at 39 and 43 percent. “The reasons for this are not only the very high proportion of female workers, but also the extraordinary workload in the nursing sector,” it said. In contrast, the part-time rate in energy technology and in the areas of plumbing, heating, sanitary and air conditioning technology – where skilled workers are needed to implement the energy transition – was very low at just over five percent each.
According to the WSI, the employment potential can only be expanded in the fight against the shortage of skilled workers if there is a fair distribution of care work. “For this, couples need time flexibility, which can be achieved in part by expanding childcare,” said Kohlrausch. “Recently, this has actually become more unreliable, so some parents have responded by shortening their working hours.”