Germans worked more hours than ever before in 2024's second quarter

Despite Germany's tepid economy, people worked more hours in Germany in the second quarter of 2024 than ever before, according to new figures released on Tuesday.

The volume of work rose to 14.7 billion hours, exceeding the level before the coronavirus crisis for the first time, according to the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), the research arm of Germany's Federal Employment Agency.

"Never before has so much work been done in Germany - in the middle of an economic downturn," said IAB labour market researcher Enzo Weber.

In the second quarter of 2019, 14.6 billion hours were worked.

"However, a further increase is not a foregone conclusion," emphasized Weber. "Employment growth is levelling off significantly, the part-time rate is climbing to almost 40% and there is less overtime being worked than ever before."

The number of people in employment rose by 0.4% year-on-year to 46.1 million in the second quarter of 2024. Working hours per person rose by 0.4% compared to the same quarter of the previous year and averaged 318.2 hours.

The part-time rate rose by 0.5 points year-on-year to 39.8%.

The number of part-time employees increased by 1.6%, while the number of full-time employees fell by 0.3%.

Weber cited an increase in employment in sectors with a high proportion of part-time work, such as healthcare and social services as well as education.

At the same time, the average number of overtime hours per worker also fell by 0.3 hours. On average, employees worked 2.9 hours of paid and 4.1 hours of unpaid overtime in the second quarter of 2024.