The debate on the functioning of the labor market in Germany has been going on for several months. According to “Stern”, Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) believes that people “should work more during their lives.” In turn, Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) criticized the “almost three weeks” of sick leave that Germans take on average during the year. Now the issue of part-time work has been raised – including: because there are more and more such employees in Germany. According to Gitta Connemann, people should not voluntarily decide to work part-time just because of their “individual lifestyle”.
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Germany. Special permit for part-time work
According to data from the Federal Statistical Office in 2024, 29 percent people employed in Germany worked part-time. The part-time employment rate peaked in the third quarter of 2025 at 40.1%. According to the business wing of the CDU party, this causes stagnation in the labor market, which particularly applies to sectors such as health care, social services and education. Politicians propose introducing a ban on part-time work, except for people who obtain special permission.
“We are talking about part-time work for no particular reason,” said Gitta Connemann, head of the business wing, in an interview with RTL and NTV.
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The proposal, which may be adopted at the CDU general conference in Stuttgart next month, coincides with the position of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who recently spoke out about the abuse of sick leave by Germans.
It is not known whether such a revolution will occur on the German labor market. The proposal of the business faction of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group met with resistance both among Christian Democrats and from the trade unions of some employers.
