Employees in Germany worked around 1.3 billion overtime hours in 2023. 775 million of these hours were unpaid, according to a response from the Federal Ministry of Labor to a written question from Left-wing MP Susanne Ferschl, which was first reported by the “Rheinische Post”. The Ministry of Labor therefore relies on data from the Institute for Labor Market and Occupational Research (IAB) of the Federal Employment Agency (BA) from February 2024.
Accordingly, the total overtime worked last year corresponded to the equivalent of 835,000 full-time positions. In 2023, each employee worked an average of 31.6 hours of overtime, 18.4 of which were unpaid. In 2022, employees had worked around 1.4 billion overtime hours. “Employers save billions in wage costs through unpaid overtime,” said Ferschl, “while employees suffer from extended working hours and constant demands for flexibility.”