Overview

• The BiB’s per-capita metric includes all residents aged 20–64, counting unemployed as zero hours and reflecting a part-time rate of roughly 30%, while full-time workers still average about 40 hours a week.
• Women’s average per-capita weekly hours rose from about 19 in 1991 to over 24 by 2022, narrowing the gender gap to around nine hours.
• Government coalition partners are negotiating to replace the eight-hour day with a 48-hour weekly cap, introduce digital time-tracking and adjust pension and tax incentives.
• Unions and safety experts warn that extended shifts risk worker health and productivity, while employers invoke OECD data—though the OECD cautions against cross-country comparisons—and surveys show most workers oppose longer days.
• BiB director Katharina Spieß says expanding day-care and other family-policy reforms is essential to sustain further gains in women’s employment and working hours.