Germany's Total Working Hours Declined in 2024 Despite Employment Growth

The number of employed individuals in Germany rose slightly, but shifts toward part-time work and fewer hours per worker drove a decrease in total working hours.

• Total working hours in Germany fell by 0.1% in 2024, the first decline since the pandemic year of 2020, totaling 61.37 billion hours.
• The number of employed individuals increased by 71,000 to 46.08 million, driven primarily by a 1.2% rise in part-time employment.
• Full-time employment decreased by 0.2%, while the part-time employment rate rose to 39.5%, up 0.3 percentage points from 2023.
• Self-employment experienced a notable decline, dropping by 1.9% to 3.77 million individuals.
• Average hours worked per employee fell by 3.5 hours to 1,332 annually, with both paid and unpaid overtime hours also decreasing.

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