BERLIN, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- Millions of Germans are only able to earn low wages from their jobs in spite of a general trend towards longer working hours in the eurozone's largest economy, official figures published on Monday by the Federal Statistical Office showed.
According to a "quality of work" database compiled by the government agency, 21.4 percent of all workers in Germany were employed in low-wage jobs in which they earned a salary that was two thirds lower than the country's median salary in 2014. Notably, women (27.2 percent) were much more likely to be engaged in poorly-paid work than men (15.8 percent).
Aside from a greater tendency for women to be held responsible housework and child-rearing duties at home and hence work part-time, the findings were also reflective of a specific gender divide with view to the average seniority of positions in the German labor market. Even as recently as 2017, women only accounted for 29.2 percent of all managerial staff despite making up 46.4 percent of the total labor force. The Federal Statistical Office highlighted that the figure had consequently barely moved since 1997 when the same ratio was measured at 26.6 percent.
The data by the Federal Statistical Office was published on the same day as the Hans Boeckler Foundation released its own study on working conditions in Germany. The study authors arrived at a similar conclusion, saying 12.3 percent of workers were in precarious employment.
About 4 million Germans found themselves in jobs with few perspectives for future promotions, low wages, and a lack of social security. Women, especially those in prime working age with children, accounted for the lion's share.
The independent study was conducted for the Hans Boeckler Foundation by scientists at the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB) and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. Job quality, as well as poverty, debt and living conditions were considered in the definition of "precarious working situation" on the basis of data compiled between 1993 and 2012.
Commenting on the findings, the authors emphasized that a recently introduced national minimum wage was of crucial importance in changing the situation of Germans in precarious work. Nevertheless, such measures did not in themselves suffice to prevent the circumstance from arising in the absence of further redistribution and stricter labor laws.
