Germany's Workforce Shrinks by 160,000
The findings reveal a workforce quietly reconfiguring itself: full-time job losses are being absorbed not by new hires, but by part-time employees working longer hours — a dynamic that has kept overall labor output remarkably stable despite a shrinking headcount.
The total number of employed individuals dropped by 160,000 in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period last year, settling at 45.64 million. Yet the total volume of work held firm at 15.7 billion hours — a near-steady figure driven by a 0.3% rise in average weekly working hours per person, which climbed to 344.2 hours.
The most striking finding centers on part-time work. The share of part-time workers rose by 0.4 percentage points year-on-year, reaching 40.1% — marking the first time in recorded history that the 40% threshold has been breached during a first quarter. Weekly hours among part-time employees edged up by 0.3 hours to 18.88 hours, while their full-time counterparts remained largely static at 38.15 hours per week.
A sharp decline in sick leave also played a measurable role in cushioning the labor market's overall output. The IAB recorded that absenteeism due to illness fell from 6.5% in the first quarter of 2025 to 6.1% over the same period this year — a drop that helped sustain workforce productivity even as employee numbers contracted.
Together, the data paints a picture of a German labor market adapting under pressure: leaner in headcount, longer in part-time hours, and more reliant than ever on workforce flexibility to keep its economic engine running.
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