First Half of 2019: Employees Carry Out Almost a Billion Overtime

In the first half of 2019, employees in Germany spent a total of around 960 million overtime hours - more than half of which, at 490 million, were unpaid. This is the result of a survey conducted by the Federal Employment Agency's Institute for Employment Research (IAB). First, the newspapers of the editorial network Germany (RND) had reported on it, citing the response of the Federal Ministry of Labor to a request from the Left Bundestag faction.

The data shows that the number of overtime hours in the second quarter barely changed compared to the first. However, the difference to the previous year is clear: In the first half of 2018, there were still about 1.1 billion overtime hours.

In total, about 2.02 billion overtime hours were counted in 2018, 1.8 percent more than in the previous year. Thus, 3.8 percent of all working hours of full-time and part-time employees worked overtime - which is calculated to be around 1.2 million full-time equivalents. 1.04 billion overtime hours were reportedly paid last year, with over 980 million overtime unpaid.

Workers in the home office work significantly more overtime

Employees, some of whom also work in the home office, disproportionately work overtime. "In 2017, home-office workers averaged 5.6 overtime per week, while non-home-based workers averaged 2.9 overtime per week," the ministry response said.

Left labor market expert Jessica Tatti called for stricter rules for overtime. It is "negligent that the overtime with each year continue to increase, without the federal government recognizes a reason to act," said Tatti the RND newspapers. "The federal government lays it in the lap, while employers save billions of dollars at the expense of the health of their employees, leaving unpaid for every second extra hour." This is "wage theft".