How much overtime goes unpaid in Germany?

In 2024, according to the IAB working-time accounts, 637.5 million hours, 53.6 percent of all overtime. In 2025, each employee did 15.6 unpaid overtime hours on average.

Which sector has the most unpaid overtime?

According to the 2024 microcensus, education: 96.5 percent of full-time employees’ overtime there was unpaid.

Magazine · Numbers

Unpaid overtime in numbers: 637 million hours given away

In short

In Germany, about 637.5 million overtime hours went unpaid in 2024, 53.6 percent of all overtime. In 2025, each employee did 15.6 unpaid overtime hours on average, more than the paid ones. If you write your hours down yourself, you see how much of it lands with you.

By Fieravend · Heidrich Digital · Published 20 October 2026 · As of 20 October 2026 · Reading time 6 minutes

More than half goes unpaid

Every year the German Institute for Employment Research (IAB) works out how much people in Germany work. For 2024 it counts just under 1.19 billion overtime hours. 552 million of them were paid. 637.5 million were not. That is in a reply by the German government to parliament from July 2025.

Unpaid here means: not paid in money or with a surcharge. Some of it may be balanced with time off later, much of it simply disappears. Ten minutes early, twenty minutes late, a break worked through. You never notice it in a single month, but over a year it adds up.

Per person: about two working days a year

For 2025 the IAB reports an average of 15.6 unpaid and 11.6 paid overtime hours per employee. So the unpaid ones are ahead, as they were in 2024 (15.1 to 13.1 hours). With an eight-hour day, 15.6 hours are almost two full working days you give away each year if you are exactly average.

The average hides a lot: many part-timers do no overtime at all, others do a great deal. So the national figure only helps you to put things in context. You only know your own number once you write your hours down. The overtime calculator works out one week for you.

Where it is highest

Germany’s 2024 microcensus shows how overtime by full-time employees is spread across sectors. Across all sectors, 61.1 percent is unpaid. In some it is almost all of it:

Education: 96.5%This covers schools and nurseries. Marking in the evening, parents’ evenings, staff meetings.
Finance and insurance: 80.0%Banks, insurers, financial services.
Professional, scientific and technical services: 77.4%Law firms, offices, agencies, research.
Information and communication: 76.7%IT, media, telecoms.

During an apprenticeship

People just starting out know this too. In the German trade union confederation’s 2025 apprenticeship report, 32.3 percent of apprentices surveyed say they regularly work overtime. Among trainee cooks it is 50.6 percent. Overtime is not part of the training. If you are an apprentice, your own record pays off twice: for you, and for the conversation with your employer.

What it is worth

Multiply the 637.5 million hours by the average gross hourly wage of April 2024 (25.94 euros according to the Federal Statistical Office) and you get about 16.5 billion euros. That is our own rough calculation: people who do unpaid overtime do not necessarily earn the average, and surcharges are not included. Still, it shows the scale.

Not just in Germany

In Austria, according to the Vienna Chamber of Labour, about 170 million extra and overtime hours were worked in 2025. 45.9 million of them were neither paid nor given back as time off. In the UK, the Trades Union Congress puts unpaid overtime in 2025 at 28.5 billion pounds. About 3.5 million people there regularly work longer without being paid for it.

The figures are collected differently and cannot be compared directly. But the picture is similar everywhere: a large part of the extra work is never booked anywhere.

What you can do with this

You do not have to prove anything to anyone to write down your time. Your own time sheet is for you first: you see whether your week adds up, whether breaks happen, and how much plus builds up over months. If you ever want to talk about it, with your manager, the works council or when you change jobs, you have numbers instead of a feeling.

What belongs in a good record and who has to show what is in the guide Proving overtime and the article Who ordered the overtime?.

Quick questions

How much overtime goes unpaid in Germany?: In 2024, according to the IAB working-time accounts, 637.5 million hours, 53.6 percent of all overtime. In 2025, each employee did 15.6 unpaid overtime hours on average.
Which sector has the most unpaid overtime?: According to the 2024 microcensus, education: 96.5 percent of full-time employees’ overtime there was unpaid.

Sources

All sources checked on 20 October 2026. This article explains things in general and is not legal advice. For questions about your own case, a works council, union, the Chamber of Labour (Austria) or an employment lawyer can help.