Part-time: fewer hours, but how much less money?
Anyone thinking about part-time work almost always asks the same question first: what is left at the end of the month? The honest answer: more than most people expect. Your gross salary falls exactly in line with your working hours, but your net salary falls much less. This guide explains how to calculate part-time pay in Germany, why the tax system works in your favour, what happens in the midi-job zone and what part-time means for your holidays and pension.
You can recalculate every example in this article with your own figures in the part-time calculator. Enter your full-time salary and the hours you want, and you immediately see gross pay, net pay and holiday entitlement.
Step 1: Calculate part-time gross pay
The basic rule is set out in the German Part-Time and Fixed-Term Employment Act (TzBfG). Under Section 4(1) TzBfG, a part-time employee may not be treated worse than a comparable full-time employee. Pay must be granted at least in proportion to their working time. Lawyers call this "pro rata temporis".
The formula is therefore simple: part-time gross = full-time gross × part-time hours ÷ full-time hours.
An example: you earn €4,000 gross working 40 hours a week and want to reduce to 30 hours. 30 ÷ 40 gives a part-time share of 75%. Your new gross salary is €4,000 × 0.75 = €3,000.
Instead of hours, you can also work with a percentage, for example if your employer offers an 80% position. Or think in working days: if you go from five to four days a week and keep the same daily hours, you work 80% and receive 80% of the salary.
Step 2: Why net pay falls less
In the example you lose 25% of your gross salary. Net pay tells a different story. In tax class I without children and without church tax, €4,000 gross leaves about €2,625 net under the 2026 wage-tax rates. €3,000 gross leaves about €2,068. Your net pay therefore falls by only about 21%, even though you work a quarter less. You keep 78.8% of your previous net pay for 75% of the working time.
The reason is Germany's progressive income tax. The tax rate rises with income: the first €12,348 a year (basic allowance 2026) are tax-free, then the rate starts at 14% and rises to 42%. When your income falls, it is mainly the most expensive euros that disappear, the ones taxed at your highest marginal rate. In the example, wage tax falls from about €505 to about €280 a month, a drop of 45%.
Social contributions behave differently. Health, long-term care, pension and unemployment insurance are percentages of gross pay. They therefore fall exactly in line with your working time, from about €870 to about €653. Only above the contribution ceilings and in the transition zone does this change.
The part-time calculator shows this "progression advantage" directly: the higher your full-time salary and the more you reduce, the larger the gap between the gross share and the net share.
Step 3: Your net pay per hour rises
Another effect is often overlooked: your net hourly pay rises in part-time. At €4,000 and 40 hours you earn about €23.09 gross per hour. Net, that is about €15.16 per hour at full time. In a 30-hour week, about €15.92 net per hour remains, even though the gross hourly wage is unchanged. Every hour you drop costs you less net pay than the average of your previous hours.
Special case: the transition zone up to €2,000
If your part-time salary drops below €2,000 a month, a further relief applies. Between €603.01 and €2,000 you are in the so-called transition zone (Übergangsbereich) in 2026, commonly called a midi-job. Your employee social contributions are then not calculated on your full salary but on a reduced base (Section 20(2a) SGB IV). At the lower end you pay almost nothing; towards the upper limit, the contribution rises gradually to the normal rate.
The special feature: your pension entitlement is still calculated on the full gross salary. You pay in less but receive full credit. If you work 50% of a €4,000 position, you are exactly at the €2,000 limit. With a full-time salary of €3,000 and a 60% position, you would earn €1,800 gross and about €1,377 net. The part-time calculator includes the transition zone automatically. Details are available in the midi-job calculator.
Below €603 a month, the job is a mini-job in 2026. The threshold is linked to the minimum wage of €13.90. In a mini-job you pay no wage tax (the employer usually pays a flat-rate tax) and only a 3.6% pension contribution, which you can opt out of. However, you have no health or unemployment insurance through the job. For a regular part-time position this is rarely the better choice.
Holidays in part-time: only working days count
For holidays, what matters is not your hours but the number of working days per week. The formula is: full-time holiday days × working days per week ÷ 5.
If you have 30 holiday days and will work three days a week in future, you get 18 holiday days. If you continue to work five days, just shorter ones, you keep all 30 days. In both cases you have exactly six weeks off, because each holiday day covers one of your working days. Read more, including switching mid-year, in holiday entitlement in part-time. For special cases such as joining or leaving during the year, use the holiday entitlement calculator.
The downside: a lower pension
However pleasant the progression effect is for net pay, it does not exist for the pension. The German statutory pension is based on pension points, and these grow in proportion to your gross salary. If you work 75%, you collect 75% of the points. At €4,000 gross, each year of part-time at 30 hours costs you just under €10 of monthly pension at today's values. After ten years of part-time, about €100 a month is missing, for life. How to counteract this is explained in part-time and your pension.
Bonuses, allowances and overtime
Christmas bonuses, holiday pay, bonuses and capital-forming payments are also due to you at least pro rata in part-time. Flat benefits not linked to working time, such as a meal allowance per working day, follow your actual working days. A company car or job ticket may not simply be withdrawn because of part-time.
If you work beyond your agreed part-time hours, you are entitled to be paid for those hours. Whether and from when overtime surcharges apply depends on your employment or collective agreement.
Are you entitled to part-time at all?
In many cases, yes. Under Section 8 TzBfG you can request a reduction in working hours if you have been employed for more than six months and your employer usually has more than 15 employees. The request must be made in text form at least three months before the desired start. If you only want to reduce for a certain period, there is bridge part-time under Section 9a TzBfG for one to five years with a right to return. All deadlines and grounds for refusal are covered in the right to part-time and bridge part-time.
Check your tax class if you are married
If one spouse goes part-time, incomes shift. Then it is worth reviewing the tax class combination. With III/V, joint monthly net pay often rises noticeably, but the annual tax stays the same. Which combination suits you and where traps lie for parental allowance and unemployment benefit is explained in part-time and tax class.
Checklist before switching to part-time
1. Calculate gross and net pay with the part-time calculator and check whether you fall into the transition zone.
2. Decide whether you want to reduce permanently or temporarily (part-time under Section 8 or bridge part-time under Section 9a TzBfG).
3. Clarify how the hours will be distributed: fewer days or shorter days. This determines your holidays.
4. Take leftover leave from the full-time period before switching if possible, or have the carry-over confirmed in writing.
5. Check your tax class if you are married.
6. Submit the request in text form at least three months before the start and keep proof.
Conclusion
Part-time costs less net pay than a first look at the hours suggests. If you reduce from 40 to 30 hours, you give up a quarter of your working time but only just over a fifth of your net pay. In the transition zone up to €2,000, the effect is even stronger. The price shows up later in your pension. Calculate your own case with the part-time calculator and compare the result with the salary calculator if needed. All figures are estimates as of September 2026 and do not replace tax or legal advice.