Recent data reveals a continued rise in part-time employment among teachers in Germany’s general education schools. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reported Wednesday that approximately 739,500 teachers were employed in these schools during the 2023/2024 school year, with 43.1 percent working part-time – a slight increase from the 42.3 percent recorded in the previous year.
This trend is particularly pronounced among female educators. In the 2023/2024 school year, over half of female teachers (50.7 percent) worked reduced hours, more than double the rate of their male counterparts (22.6 percent).
The part-time rate among teachers significantly exceeds the national average for all employees. In 2023, approximately 30.9 percent of all employed individuals worked part-time. The higher prevalence of part-time work within the teaching profession is attributed in part to the substantial representation of women, who comprised 73.1 percent of the teaching workforce in the 2023/2024 school year, compared to 48.1 percent across all economic sectors in 2023.
Significant regional variations exist in the proportion of part-time teachers. In Hamburg (55.0 percent), Bremen (52.2 percent) and Baden-Württemberg (50.1 percent), over half of all teachers were employed on a part-time basis during the 2023/2024 school year. Conversely, Thuringia (23.0 percent) and Saxony-Anhalt (23.1 percent) reported considerably lower rates, with less than one in four teachers working part-time.
Data also reveals an aging teaching workforce. During the 2023/2024 school year, over a quarter of teachers (25.4 percent) were between 50 and 59 years old, with a further 10.3 percent aged 60 or older. This indicates that more than a third of all teachers (35.7 percent) were aged 50 or above, compared to a smaller proportion of teachers under 35, who comprised approximately 20.8 percent of the workforce.
These age demographics also vary by state, with Saxony-Anhalt (54.0 percent) and Thuringia (50.0 percent) reporting the highest percentages of teachers aged 50 or older. Saarland (28.4 percent) and Bremen (30.1 percent) had the lowest proportions of this age group.
The analysis included only full-time and part-time teachers, excluding those employed on an hourly basis. The part-time and female employment rates for all economic sectors are based on the results of the 2023 Microcensus.
