According to the Institute for Employment Research, marginal employment is on the decline

The employment rate among Germans working part-time rose by 0.5 percentage points compared to the same quarter last year, reaching a new record high of 40.1 percent in the second quarter of 2025. This is according to the working time statistics published today, Tuesday, by the Institute for Employment Research (https://www.iab.de) (IAB).

Fewer full-time employees

The number of part-time employees increased by 1.3 percent compared to the same quarter last year, while the number of full-time employees fell slightly by 0.7 percent, according to the Nuremberg-based institute. The increase in the number of part-time employees is attributable to regular part-time work, as marginal employment declined again, it said.

The number of people in employment rose slightly in the second quarter compared with the same quarter of the previous year to 46 million. Seasonally and calendar-adjusted, employment stagnated compared with the previous quarter. According to IAB analysts, full-time jobs are already more than 200,000 below their peak. The ongoing recession is thus taking its toll.

Many people are doing side jobs

The volume of work fell by 0.5 percent compared to the same quarter last year, amounting to 14.5 billion hours in the second quarter. Seasonally and calendar-adjusted, this represents a decrease of 0.1 percent compared to the previous quarter. Employed workers worked an average of 2.6 paid and 3.9 unpaid overtime hours in the second quarter of 2025.

In addition, 4.64 million employees had a secondary job in the second quarter, 2.5 percent more than in the same quarter of the previous year. This development is in line with the long-term upward trend. Based on all employed workers, 7.4 hours per capita were worked in secondary jobs, 0.2 hours more than in the same quarter of the previous year.