Overview
- The IAB’s Q2 2026 labour-time accounts, published September 3, show the part-time share rising to a record 40.3 percent across Germany.
- About 16.9 million people worked part-time and roughly 25.1 million worked full-time in Q2 2026, with part-time employment up by about 85,000 and full-time employment down by about 239,000 compared with a year earlier.
- Growth in health, social services and education drove most new jobs while the manufacturing sector lost large numbers of full-time positions, shifting the country’s employment mix toward roles that commonly offer reduced hours.
- Average weekly hours were 18.88 for part-time workers and 38.32 for full-time workers, and Germany’s total unadjusted working-volume remained near 14.4 billion hours but fell 0.5 percent versus Q2 2025.
- The figures have reignited policy fights over limits on non‑causal ‘lifestyle’ part-time proposals from the Mittelstands- und Wirtschaftsunion and counterarguments from unions and social groups that point to childcare, eldercare and pension adequacy as the root issues, while parallel Statistik Austria data show female part-time rates at a new high of 51.1 percent.