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Good work and equitable participation

Stan­dard and non-stan­dard em­ploy­ment

The indicator shows how employees between the ages of 20 and 64 are distributed across the various types of employment.

Standard employment is open-ended, full-time employment that does not include temporary work.

The term non-standard employment describes a wide range of types of employment. The Federal Statistical Office uses this term to describe workers on fixed-term contracts, those in marginal employment (mini jobs), part-time employees (up to 20 hours a week) and subcontracted and temp staff.

These different types of non-standard employment include duplicates, such as when someone works less than 20 hours a week as part of a fixed-term contract. The number of people in non-standard employment is therefore lower than the total of the different types of non-standard employment.

The data was gathered by the Federal Statistical Office as part of its Microcensus survey.

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Non-standard employment as a share of dependent employment
The chart shows non-standard employment as a share of dependent employment in the period 1991 to 2018. In 1991, non-standard employment made up a share of around 14 percent of dependent employment. This share increased considerably between 1991 and 2007, when it reached an all-time high of 25.5 percent. Since this peak in 2007, the proportion has dropped and stood at some 22.1 percent in 2018.199120002009201822.1%01530%

Source: German Federal Statistical Office, Results of the Microcensus 2018.Updated data

Different forms of non-standard employment as a share of dependent employment
The chart shows the proportion of different forms of non-standard employment as a share of dependent employment in the period 1991 to 2018. Non-standard employment includes fixed-term employment contracts, marginal employment, part-time employment of up to 20 hours per week and temp work. Fixed-term, marginal and part-time employment as a share of dependent employment has increased since 1991. In 2018, the figures were 7.2 percent for fixed-term employment, 6.0 percent for marginal employment and 13.7 percent for part-time employment. Figures for temp work are only available for the period 2006 to 2018. The proportion of temp work as a share of dependent employment was around 2.7 percent in this period. Part-time employment up to 20 hours a week199120002009201813.7%01020% Marginal employment 19912000200920186.0%01020% Fixed-term employment19912000200920187.2%01020% Temp employment19912000200920182.7%01020%

Source: German Federal Statistical Office, Results of the Microcensus 2018.Updated data

It should be noted that the various forms of non-standard employment are not distinct, and that individuals in a non-standard employment relationship might even be counted twice if they work part-time and have a fixed-term employment contract, for example.

Number of persons in non-standard and standard employment
The chart shows the number of persons in non-standard and standard employment in the period 1991 to 2018. The figures for both non-standard and standard employment have increased in Germany since 2000. The number of persons in a non-standard employment relationship rose from 5.9 to 7.4 million, the number of persons in standard employment increased from 23.7 to 26.2 million.1991201802040m
Standard employment
Non-standard employment

Source: German Federal Statistical Office, Results of the Microcensus 2018.Updated data

Number of persons in different forms of non-standard employment by gender 2018
The chart shows the number of persons in different forms of non-standard employment by gender in 2017. All in all, non-standard employment is much more common among women than men. In 2017, for example, 5,272,000 women but only 2,374,000 men were in non-standard employment. This is mainly due to part-time work and marginal employment. In 2017, 4,063,000 women were working part-time and 1,633,000 women were in marginal employment relationships. By way of comparison, only 696,000 men were working part-time and only 517,000 men were in marginal employment relationships. There are hardly any gender differences when it comes to fixed-term employment contracts. Compared to women, men are more often employed as temporary workers, in 2017 the figure for men stood at 618,000 and for women at 306,000.Non-standard employmentMenWomen036m Fixed-term employmentWomenMen036m Marginal employment MenWomen036m Part-time employment up to 20 hours a weekMenWomen036m Temp employmentWomenMen036m

Source: German Federal Statistical Office, Results of the Microcensus 2018.Updated data

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Good work and equitable participation
Em­ploy­ment rate
Good work and equitable participation
Real net wages and salaries
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