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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Kate Connolly in Berlin

Merz’s party vows to clamp down on Germany’s ‘lifestyle part-time work’

Woman wearing headphones with microphone while working on a laptop
In Germany, 76% of part-time workers are women, a rate similar to the UK and France. Photograph: Sascha Steinbach/EPA

The business wing of Germany’s leading Christian Democratic Union party is proposing a ban on the legal entitlement to work part-time, arguing that those wishing to work fewer hours should have to acquire special permission to do so.

Currently, every employee in Europe’s largest economy has a fundamental right to carry out part-time work, with many, particularly women, often needing to do so for reasons relating to childcare or looking after elderly relatives.

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