The number of people in stable employment positions with social security benefits has increased in Germany over the past year, the Federal Statistics Office reported on Wednesday.
The number of people employed on temporary contracts or on limited income contracts fell to only a fifth of all employed people in Germany.
Women were the largest group to profit from this trend: Compared to the previous year, around 300,000 more women became employed on stable contracts with more than 20-hour work weeks. This represents an increase of 2.8 percent; for men, the increase was 1 percent.
However, the statistics office said women are still overrepresented in so-called atypical employment positions. Nearly one in three women in the workforce are employed on a temporary basis or limited income contracts in Germany. Only 12 percent of men in the workforce were on so-called atypical contracts.
The large majority of part-time jobs that include social benefits are also held by women: 3.4 million women are on this form of part-time contract, compared to 460,000 men, the micro census finds.
The definition of what constitutes an atypical employment position is controversial. Companies that employ people on a temporary basis have complained about being categorized as such because they often provide social benefits to their temp workers.
However, German unions say temp workers are often overqualified and underpaid for the work they do, therefore fitting them into the atypical employment categorization.
A study published in June by the Boeckler Foundation found that young people and foreigners were far more at risk to be employed in atypical contracts.
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