One of the favorite narratives among liberal and conservative circles in Germany is that the country's economic decline is to blame on Germans falling out of love with work.

Friedrich Merz, the new chancellor, placed the issue at the top of his priorities for reviving the stagnating economy, which has not grown in five years. "We must, in this country, work more again and, above all, more efficiently. It is not with the four-day week and 'work-life balance' that we will be able to maintain our prosperity!" he declared at the economic forum of his party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), in mid-May, drawing protests from unions.

Since then, the whole country has been questioning its supposed laziness, haunted by a study from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that is circulating widely. The study ranks Germans at the bottom among the 34 member countries, with 1,343 hours worked per person per year, compared to 1,500 in France, 1,803 in Poland, and 1,897 in Greece.

Are Germans lazy? Some experts put this analysis into perspective. First, the hours measured and the international rankings are disputed. The OECD itself notes that its chart should only be used for time comparisons "because of differences in sources and methods of calculation" between countries. A 2023 study by Rexecode, which avoids these biases, placed Germany in the average range among Northern European countries. Above all, with 46 million working people, the total number of hours worked in Germany is at a record high.

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