Number of short-time workers in Germany, annual
Number of short-time workers in Germany, annual stood at 297,318 Number in 2025, according to Deutsche Bundesbank. It is one of the indicators in the Labour market (annual) table (Value · Annual), with a complete series running from 1991 to 2025. The complete series with an interactive chart, free to download.
This indicator in the Labour market (annual) table
| Indicator | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short-time work | |||||||||||
| Short-time workers, Social Security Code III, Absolute value1 | 297,318 | 298,069 | 240,846 | 425,571 | 1,851,802 | 2,938,786 | 145,276 | 117,659 | 113,552 | 127,811 | |
| Short-time workers, basis for entitlement according to section 96 only, Social Security Code III, Absolute value | 210,112 | 210,219 | 146,892 | 336,638 | 1,744,098 | 2,847,044 | 59,821 | 25,060 | 24,267 | 42,086 |
Understanding number of short-time workers in Germany, annual
The total tally of employees receiving state-subsidised compensation for temporary reductions in their regular working hours falls under this overarching metric. Administered via Social Security Code III, the programme allows enterprises facing unavoidable shocks to cut shifts rather than dismiss staff entirely. This headline absolute value covers all forms of the scheme, acting as a counterpart to outright unemployment figures by tracking those who remain legally employed but are actively experiencing a state-supported pause in their standard labour output.
Because short-time work is an emergency lever pulled during economic distress, the annual average smooths out the extreme monthly spikes triggered by sudden supply chain failures or demand collapses. Initial figures are notoriously subject to massive backward revisions; companies register for potential short-time work in advance but only claim the actual subsidies months later, causing preliminary estimates to drastically overstate the final reality. Year-on-year comparisons illustrate broad macroeconomic stress, but analysts must be careful not to conflate this count with job losses. Individuals tallied here are still firmly embedded in the domestic employment totals, representing preserved capacity rather than severed contracts.
Frequently asked questions
- Are short-time workers counted as unemployed in the national statistics?
- No, they maintain their employment contracts and are counted among the employed population, not the unemployed.
- Does this total include all variations of the short-time compensation scheme?
- Yes, this broad aggregate captures all forms of reduced-hour arrangements administered under the relevant Social Security Code.
- Why are initial estimates for this series often revised downwards?
- Enterprises frequently register more workers for the scheme than they actually end up placing on reduced hours when filing the final claims.