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last mo.

German Survey: 39.7% of Mothers of Under-Threes Employed, vs 88.7% of Fathers

The data underscore a decade of near-stasis tied to unequal care loads alongside scarce childcare.

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Mütter von kleinen Kindern sind deutlich seltener erwerbstätig als Väter. Im vergangenen Jahr gingen 39,7 Prozent der Frauen mit mindestens einem Kind unter drei Jahren einer Erwerbsarbeit nach, wie das Statistische Bundesamt in Wiesbaden mitteilte.
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Overview

  • Destatis, which published its Number of the Week on Tuesday, reported that 39.7% of mothers with a child under three worked in 2025 compared with 88.7% of fathers.
  • Across the past decade, mothers’ employment in this group edged up from 36.0% in 2015 to 39.7% in 2025, while fathers’ rates stayed near 90% at 88.7%.
  • Mothers’ participation rises as children grow older, reaching 71.2% for those with at least one child under 18, while fathers’ rate stays high at 91.4% regardless of child age.
  • The figures come from the Mikrozensus, a yearly survey of about 1% of residents that counts only people actually at work and excludes those pausing jobs for maternity protection or parental leave.
  • WSI’s Bettina Kohlrausch said the gap reflects unequal care at home and too few childcare places, a mix that keeps many mothers out of paid work and fuels calls to expand non‑transferable parental‑benefit months.