Times of change: what drives the growth of work arrangements in Germany?

Since the beginning of the 1990s, the composition of work arrangements has significantly changed. Whereas non-standard work arrangements such as part-time or temporary employment grew over time, standard work lost in importance. However, data from the German Labour Force Survey does - at least for the recent past - not show a clear indication for a much greater speed with respect to changes in the composition of work arrangements. In addition, developments are also driven by a long-term trend. Shift-share-analyses suggest that shifts in the demographic or industry composition of employment were only of minor importance as a driving force for the trend. This means that factors related to the behaviour of the parties involved have obviously played a decisive role. In this context it is important that Germany is a country with regulations creating incentives for an increased use of nonstandard work arrangements. Of relevance in this context are high social security contributions, a considerable level of employment protection, a stronger activation of unemployed due to recent labour market reforms and a still dominant male bread winner model.