In a recent report, the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) revealed that, on average, full-time employees in Germany work fewer hours per week than the European Union (EU) average. According to the data, in 2024, full-time workers in Germany, aged 15 to 64, put in an average of 40.2 working hours per week, which is slightly below the EU average of 40.3 hours. This trend is a reversal of the slight increase in working hours seen in the past decade, with 2014 seeing an average of 41.5 hours in Germany and 41.3 hours in the EU.
In contrast, part-time employees in Germany have seen a significant increase in working hours, with an average of 21.8 hours per week in 2024, up from 19.3 hours in 2014. The EU average for part-time workers also rose, from 20.6 to 22 hours per week.
The combination of these trends has resulted in a relatively stable overall average working week for all employees in Germany, at 34.8 hours, which is below the EU average of 37.1 hours. This is largely due to the high proportion of part-time workers in Germany, with 29% of employees aged 15 to 64 working part-time, compared to the EU average of 18%.
The report also highlighted the significant gender gap in part-time work in Germany, with 48% of women and 12% of men working part-time. This disparity is more pronounced in the EU, where 28% of women and 8% of men work part-time.
The proportion of part-time workers in Germany has actually increased over the past decade, with a rise from 27% in 2014 to 29% in 2024, driven by an increase in part-time work among both men and women. This trend is in contrast to the EU, where the proportion of part-time workers has declined, driven by a decrease in part-time work among women.