Entwicklung von Erwerbstätigkeit, Arbeitszeit und Arbeitsvolumen nach Geschlecht : Ergebnisse der IAB-Arbeitszeitrechnung nach Alter und Geschlecht (AZR AG) für die Jahre 1991 - 2019

"This research report presents the basics, methodological developments as well as selected results of the IAB working-time measurement concept according to age and gender (AZR AG) for the period 1991 to 2019. For almost 20 years now, the IAB has reported regularly on the development of employment and hours worked by women and men in Germany based on the AZR AG. This data-base provides information on the share of women in employment and volume of work, as well as the resulting gender gap in working time and on the distribution of the resource of work between the sexes. In addition, the AZR AG helps answer questions about the different development of labor force participation and the working time structures of women and men – also age-specific. The employment of women has steadily increased and at first glance has approached that of men. The proportion of women in employment in 2019 was 47.5 percent. However, the number of people alone shows only an incomplete picture of the participation of women and men in gainful employment, as it does not provide any information on the different working hours of women and men. Because when considering the working hours as a reference value, there are clear differences. The high proportion of women who work part-time – 58.2 percent of employed women were in part-time jobs in 2019 – leads to a pronounced working time gap between women and men. Only a look at the volume of work performed – i. e. the product of the number of persons in employment and working hours – gives a more differentiated picture. Because of their short working hours, women only made a disproportionately low contribution to the overall economic volume of work: The proportion of women in the volume of work reached a value of 40.3 percent in 2019. The working time gap – i. e. the difference between the share of women in total employment and in the volume of work – was 7.3 percentage points in 2019. This existing gap in working hours between women and men is one of the main reasons for further gender differences in the labor market, so the scope of employment is one of the decisive factors for income, pensions and often a prerequisite for career advancement." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))