Working hours: Working time accounts are becoming more important

The number of hours saved on working hours has reached a record level in Germany. According to a study by the Institute for Labor Market and Vocational Research (IAB), the credit on flexitime and short-term accounts in the fourth quarter of 2023 was around 473 million hours- around 140 million more than in 2013.

For the first time representative data

The IAB thus presented the IAB overall economically representative data on working time accounts of employees in Germany. According to the calculations, the time credit of an estimated net wage amount of around 9.45 billion euros and around 0.9 percent of the total annual work volume corresponds.

“All employees with a short -term account could take almost six days, then the entire hourly stocks would be dismantled,” said Enzo Weber, head of the research area for forecasts and overall economic analyzes at the IAB.

The use of working time accounts has increased significantly in the past ten years. While only 15 percent of the companies offered short -term accounts in 2013, it was 29 percent in 2023. The proportion of employees with a short -term account rose from around 25 to 37 percent in the same period. On average, employees with such an account had accumulated a good 30 hours of plus in the fourth quarter of 2023 – in 2013 it was 35 hours.

Profession and private life better interlinked

“The increasing number of employees who use such an account and the grown hourly balance show the increasing importance of flexible working time design,” emphasized IAB researcher Susanne Wanger. For many employees, she improves the compatibility of work and private life – a factor in strengthening the offer of workers, added Anja Warning from the IAB.

A particularly large number of plus hours were booked with 84 million in trade, maintenance and repair, followed by health and social affairs (65 million), the economic services (43 million) and the public administration (38 million).

The analysis is based on data from the IAB position survey, a representative employer survey. Between 2013 and 2023, information of around 157,000 companies was evaluated. In 2023 alone, 16,171 companies took part in the survey.