Press release of the Institute for Employment Research of 20.01.2011
Flexible working times foster economic growth
That the German economy was able to achieve high growth rates in 2010, so soon after the crisis, was largely due to flexible working times. This is reported by the Institute for Employment Research (IAB). Employees' average annual working time rose by 2.3 per cent, for instance through the ending of short-time work, the return to normal company working hours, the reduction of credit hours on working time accounts, and more overtime.
The number of short-time workers dropped strongly, equalling half a million according to the annual average for 2010. Close to 40 per cent of normal working time was reduced per short-time worker. Converted to account for all employees, this was the equivalent of 7.4 working hours per year, after 15.2 hours in 2009. The status of working time accounts rose in the course of 2010 by 3.7 hours per employee. Paid overtime also increased. Five hours of paid overtime more than in 2009 were carried out per employee. However, with this, the drop in overtime and credit hours on the working time accounts in the crisis year of 2009 were only made up by one third.
The normal weekly working time of full-time dependent employees increased once more because temporary reductions within the framework of arranged working time corridors were partially reversed with the onset of economic revival. At 38.24 hours on average, weekly working time was 0.17 hours longer than in 2009. On the other hand, more hours were lost in 2010 because of illness. At 3.6 per cent, the sick leave quota was somewhat higher than in 2009 (3.4 per cent).
The number of part-time employees rose by roughly 140,000 (+1.1 per cent) in 2010. The number of full-time employed also increased again by 70,000 (+0.3 per cent) after the high losses of the year before. According to the labour market researchers at IAB, "the number of full-time employees depends more strongly on the general economic situation than the number of part-time employees does". In the economic branches of industry that are strongly affected by fluctuations in economic activity, there is little part-time work; on the other hand, in the areas of private, social and public services that are less affected, the portion of part-time work is clearly higher. On macroeconomic average, the quota of part-time employees now amounts to 34.8 per cent. In 2010 this rose less strongly than on the long-term average.
On the whole, 1,340 working hours were performed on average per employee in 2010, 30.6 hours or 2.3 per cent more than in 2009. In all four quarters of the year, the working times were longer than in the previous year. IAB researchers stress the following: "The possibilities that establishments have of contributing to economic growth by way of flexible working times have not yet been exhausted. The working time reductions during the crisis have not yet been offset".
A table showing trends in working time can be found on the Internet at http://doku.iab.de/grauepap/2011/tab-az10engl.pdf.