What is the share of persons in employment with more than one job?
The so called 'secondary job rate' shows the share of employed who have one or more jobs in addition to their main job. The indicator counts employed persons aged 15 years and older.
According to the right to occupational freedom, employees may do several different jobs. Part-time jobs can be perceived as a burden especially when they are exercised to raise the total income, that is because the earnings from the main job are insufficient. But they can also mean interesting experiences and lucrative additional earnings for well-paid people.
Secondary job rate increases
In 2023, 4.5% of all employed in Germany had at least one further job in addition to their main job. These are about 1.9 million persons with at least two employments.
Most multiple job holders are middle-agers. The share of employed with a second job was more than 5.0% for persons aged 25 to 34 years and 35 to 44 years and 4.6% for persons aged 45 to 54 years. Younger persons under 25 years of age (3.9%) and older people aged above 65 years (2.8%) were less likely to have more than one job.
Looking at the difference by sex, there were only minor differences. 5.2% of the employed women and 3.9% of the employed men had an additional job. The background for the higher proportion among women is that multiple employments occur more often among part-time employed, where the proportion of women is significantly higher. More and more employed persons are doing more than one job. Since the beginning of the 90s, the share has nearly doubled.
| Year | Total | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|---|
| Source: Labour force survey | |||
| 1993 | 1.7 | 2.2 | 2.0 |
| 1998 | 2.8 | 2.9 | 2.6 |
| 2003 | 2.5 | 2.6 | 2.3 |
| 2008 | 3.7 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| 2013 | 4.8 | 4.4 | 5.3 |
| 2018 | 5.3 | 4.7 | 5.9 |
| 2023 | 4.5 | 3.9 | 5.2 |
25.7% are self-employed in their second job
Most multiple job holders were employees in their second job (74.0%). A further big group has its own business and are thus a self-employed without employees (22.9%). Only few respondents indicated to have a business that also employs employees (2.8%).
8.2 hours per week spend in second job
Second job holders usually spend an average of 8.2 hours per week in the second job. The working time of self-employed persons with employees (13.4 hours) in the second job was significantly higher than that of solo self-employed persons (8.6 hours) or employees (7.8 hours).
Information on the Indicator
Description or definition
Share of persons in employment (15 years or over) doing more than one job
Source
Labour force survey
Information for interpretation
Self-employed and part-time employees have more frequently a secondary job than (other) employees.
Compared with other statistics (in particular the employment statistics of the Federal Employment Agency), the labour force survey indicates a markedly lower share of persons in employment with multiple jobs. The background is that in the labour force survey the information provided by respondents is used, whereas the number of jobs is based on the legally required reports to social security institutions.
The microcensus with the integrated European labour force survey has been redesigned in 2020. The list of questions and the concept of the sample survey were modified, and with the introduction of an online questionnaire, the form of data collection were also changed. The results from survey year 2020 onward are therefore comparable with those of previous years only to a limited extent.
Further methodological changes affecting the results were performed in 2005, 2011 and 2021. Consequently, the results for those years can be compared with the results for previous years to a limited extent only.
The extrapolation of microcensus data uses the population figures from the 2011 Census, which was conducted as at 9 May 2011. The results have been revised from 2010 onwards. With effect from the year 2016, the sample is based on the 2011 census data. This transition affects the comparability of the results with previous years.
For more information please refer to Methods: Quality Reports and Explanations (only in German).
Further information
Redesigned microcensus as of 2020