The federal government wants the German population to work more. However, most are already working far too much. This is shown by a report from the Federal Statistical Office. At least: Compared to the previous year, overtime has decreased slightly, but it is still high.
What is Merz’s demand? Chancellor Merz stated at that time in front of present managers and businesspeople (via Welt.de): “With a four-day work week and work-life balance, we will not be able to maintain the prosperity of our country.” More and more efficient work is needed again, thus he demands more work from the Germans. And ideas have been proposed in the government and Bundestag:
- Away from the known 8-hour workday. Instead, towards a weekly working time that should be more flexible.
- Even the elimination of one public holiday has been discussed to enable Germans to work more.
- Additionally, there is discussion about making overtime tax-free to make extra work more attractive (via Süddeutsche.de).
However, the report from the German Statistical Office now shows that many people in Germany are already working significantly too much.
Every 5th person in Germany already works too much, sometimes up to 15 hours per week
What does the current situation look like? The German Statistical Office has now investigated how much people in Germany are overworking. To do this, the Statistical Office published a report. “The data,” says the report, “is based on the preliminary results of the labor force survey of the microcensus for the year 2024.”
According to the Statistical Office, around 4.4 million employees in 2024 worked an average of more than what was agreed upon in their employment contracts. This corresponds to 11% of all employees or one in five currently employed persons. Specifically, those surveyed stated:
- 45 percent indicated that they had worked an average of less than five overtime hours.
- 73 percent had worked less than ten hours.
- 15 percent of those affected had at least 15 hours of overtime in the week.
The different professions are affected to varying degrees. While many overtime hours are accumulated in the fields of finance and insurance services as well as energy supply, the hospitality and security services are hardly affected.
Also interesting: Men performed overtime slightly more frequently at a rate of 13% than women, who only reached 10%.
At least: Those who have worked overtime could transfer these hours to a working account to compensate later. Alternatively, depending on the employment contract, they were paid for their extra work.
A young boss explains that one must work 80 hours a week in his company. But this meets with little positive reactions. He defends himself: as a start-up, one has to compete against great competition: The 22-year-old boss of a company demands that his employees work 80 hours a week: “We do not offer work-life balance”
