Per-capita working time in Germany declined slightly in 2025, following several years of increase. This decline in per-capita working time corresponds to approximately 460,000 full-time positions.
The German Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB) defines per-capita working time as the average weekly working time of all 20- to 64-year-olds, rather than only those currently employed. The institute describes this metric as an important measure of the labor supply.
For 20- to 64-year-olds in Germany, the weekly per-capita working time in 2025 was 0.3 hours below the record level established in 2023. That 2023 record stood at 28.8 hours for men and women combined.
Demographic and gender trends
The reduction in working hours was most pronounced among men and within the 25- to 54-year-old age group. In contrast, working time continued to increase among people over 60, partly due to the gradual increase in the retirement age.
Women's per-capita working time remained largely stable at just over 24 hours per week. The BiB attributed this stability to continued skilled-worker gaps in sectors where women are frequently employed, such as education, childcare, and healthcare.
Women are particularly strongly represented in some of these growing sectors.
The decline in recent years has been stronger among men than among women. According to the German Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB), men's per-capita working time reached a high of 33.5 hours per week in 2019, but fell to 32.6 hours per week by 2025.
Economic and educational factors
The BiB cites the economic situation as the reason for the decline. According to researcher Harun Sulak, economic weakness phases typically coincide with a decline in per-capita working time.
The impact of economic weakness on working hours has so far been less severe than in previous cyclical downswings because women's working time remained stable.
The decline was most significant among people with low educational attainment, which the BiB attributed primarily to fewer people being employed. For higher-qualified individuals, the reduction in weekly working hours played a more major role.
According to the German Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB), other contributing factors include men increasingly utilizing part-time models and parental leave.
Per-capita working time shows the extent to which we actually exploit existing labour potential.
BiB research director Sebastian Klüsener noted that the number of workers will continue to decline due to aging in the coming decades.
The BiB calculations use Microcensus data and were age-standardized against the 2025 population structure to remove demographic shifts as a factor.
