Forget the clichés - Gen Zers in Germany work more, report says
Young adults in Germany aged 20 to 24, are increasingly participating in the workforce, the official Institute for Employment Research (IAB) said from its Nuremberg headquarters on Monday.
Between 2015 and 2023, participation increased by more than six percentage points to around 76%, mainly due to students increasingly taking on part-time jobs, according to a report released on Monday by the institute.
Between 1995 and 2015, workforce participation of 20 to 24-year-olds had consistently declined, the report said.
Common clichés do not apply
The image that many older workers have of this generation -- that they prefer to cultivate their private lives over their professional ones - is inaccurate, the report said.
"This finding contradicts common stereotypes about the lack of willingness to work among Generation Z," the authors say in the study.
Generation Z includes those born from 1995 onwards, with the first cohort of this generation entering the 20 to 24 age group in 2015.
In comparison, the participation rate of 25 to 64-year-olds only increased by almost three percentage points to nearly 87% over the same period.
The institute also notes that young people are no more likely to change jobs than in the past and they don't have a preference for different working hours than older generations.
While the numbers indicated that between 2015 to 2023, both full-time and part-time employment in the age group increased, part-time employment rose significantly more. Among students aged 20 to 24, the employment rate reportedly increased by a good 19 percentage points to 56%, while for non-students, it increased by nearly two percentage points to almost 86%.
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