Health Warnings Ring as Germany Moves to Allow 12-Hour Workdays, Part-Time Jobs Hit Record High
04.06.2026 - 08:05:23 | boerse-global.de
Three out of four employees in Germany fear that working more than ten hours a day will harm their health and recovery, according to a survey by the Institute for Economic and Social Research (WSI) of the Hans-Böckler-Stiftung. The finding comes as the federal government prepares a sweeping reform of the country’s Working Hours Act that would permit shifts of up to 12 hours, compensated over a weekly average.
The Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) warns that after 12 hours of work the probability of workplace accidents doubles. Researchers also caution that longer days could disproportionally burden women, exacerbating the challenge of balancing career and family.
Labour Minister Bärbel Bas is scheduled to present a draft bill in June 2026 that would shift Germany from a daily maximum working time to a weekly cap, aligning national law with EU directives. Under the plan, an average of 48 hours per week would be allowed, calculated over a six-month period. Key provisions include mandatory electronic recording of all working hours, the possibility to extend daily work to 12 hours as long as the weekly limit is met within the reference period, retention of the 11?hour rest period between shifts, and opening clauses that let collective agreements set stricter rules. The earliest the reform could take effect is 2027.
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The legislative push coincides with a historic shift in the German labour market. The Institute for Employment Research (IAB) reported that the part-time employment rate hit 40.1 percent in the first quarter of 2026, the highest since records began in 1991. That represents a rise of 0.4 percentage points year-on-year. Total employment fell by 160,000 to 45.64 million. Within that, 270,000 full-time jobs disappeared while 150,000 part-time positions were created. The average actual working time per person crept up 0.3 percent to 344.2 hours per quarter, mostly because part?time hours increased slightly from 18.55 to 18.88 hours per week; full?time employees averaged 38.15 hours.
Other labour market indicators for the first quarter of 2026 showed improvement. Sickness absence dropped from 6.5 to 6.1 percent. Short-time work fell by 91,000 to 438,000. IAB expert Enzo Weber noted that hourly productivity rose 0.5 percent year?on?year. Total hours worked reached 15.7 billion.
An alliance of 15 business associations, including the German Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga), backs the planned changes. Their argument is that moving to a weekly perspective is necessary to give companies the flexibility modern operations require.
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But IAB director Bernd Fitzenberger warns against pushing flexibility too far. Instead of focusing solely on daily work extensions, he says, the government should create incentives for voluntary overtime and examine how mini?jobs and the spousal tax-splitting regime affect labour participation. An overwhelming 98 percent of employees want to work fewer than ten hours per day, according to the DGB index, and 72 percent prefer a maximum of eight hours. Only about 12 percent of workers currently exceed the ten?hour mark on any given day.
