As of: February 21, 2024, 6:01 p.m
By: Lars-Eric Nievelstein
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The number of employees in Germany is increasing.
However, this does not lead to an increase in the work done.
The head of the Ifo Institute warns that full-time positions are not sufficiently worthwhile.
Augsburg – Overtime in Germany is not sufficiently worthwhile.
According to economic researcher Clemens Fuest, this problem is behind the lack of work, because people think twice about giving up their part-time job, especially with lower and middle incomes (and citizens' benefit).
Because the bottom line is that financially there is only a small plus.
Employed people in Germany (fourth quarter of 2023) |
46.2 million |
|---|---|
Average working hours (fourth quarter of 2023) |
333.9 hours (Destatis) |
Average working hours in mining and quarrying |
39.8 hours (April 2023) |
Economist criticizes: Full-time work is not sufficiently worthwhile
Fuest gave
the example of a family with two children to the
Augsburger Allgemeine .
In this scenario, they live in a city with higher rents, such as Munich.
By switching from part-time to full-time employment, the family achieves a jump from 3,000 euros to 5,000 euros gross per month.
Not only do taxes and social security contributions have to be paid, social transfers are also eliminated.
“Of the 2,000 euros more gross, 32 euros net remain at the end,” explained Fuest.
“Everyone understands that working isn’t worth it.”
Fuest: “Out of 2000 euros more gross, 32 euros net remain at the end” © IMAGO / Plusphoto
Politicians must now examine the various transfer payments and ensure that there is ultimately more net income left over from overtime.
“It’s not entirely trivial, but it’s doable,” said Fuest.
In his opinion, part-time work is understandable for individuals, but it means fewer goods and services for the economy as a whole.
This, in turn, has an impact on economic performance and tax revenues – and also on social security funds.
“We need stronger incentives to switch from part-time to full-time,” said the economist.
Overtime work over 40 hours must be tax-free
In an interview with focus.de,
Sven Schmidt, Managing Director for Marketing and Sales at Maschinensucher.de,
already had approaches that would flesh out Fuest's suggestion for political intervention.
A four-day week is not the solution; instead, incentives should be created for overtime work of over 40 hours.
“We should talk about the fact that you don’t have to pay taxes and duties on overtime work over 40 hours,” explained the entrepreneur.
Schmidt also questioned how sensible it really was to increase citizens' money.
In “some areas” this could lead to a combination of citizens’ money and undeclared work.
“The wrong incentive is being set,” said Schmidt.
It is feared that some employees could even give up their jobs because of the citizen's allowance.
Germans choose part-time work voluntarily
According to the microcensus in 2022, Germans who work part-time do so voluntarily.
Only six percent said they would prefer to work full-time, but they had not found a suitable position.
27 percent of those surveyed would have their shorter working hours at their own request.
Caring for children, people with disabilities or people in need of care is often the reason for switching to part-time work.
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This trend towards more part-time work can also be seen in the figures from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).
In the fourth quarter of 2023, 46.2 million people were employed in Germany, which represents an increase of 0.1 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
At the same time, however, the number of average hours worked per employed person fell (minus 0.5 percent) to 333.9 hours.
The gap between part-time and full-time is clear in agriculture
Destatis also examined what the gap between full-time and part-time work looks like for employees.
The most current figures are available for April 2023.
Public administration, along with defense and social security, accounted for the most working hours at 39.8 hours per week.
The monthly wage (gross) amounted to 4,254 euros.
The manufacturing industry also had 39.8 hours, or more precisely: mining and extraction of stones and earth.
The monthly salary on paper was 4,544 euros.
Employees in the energy supply sector had fewer working hours of 38.6 hours per week, but had an average gross salary of 5,352 euros.
The comparison between agriculture and forestry (38 hours per week, 2,798 euros net) and the manufacturing industry (24.3 hours per week part-time, 2,384 euros gross) was particularly drastic.
With material from dpa