AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
The skilled labor shortage in Germany is worsening as the boomer generation retires and the country's birth rate stagnates. The solution, according to Chancellor Friedrich Merz, is work more hours. But as Esme Nicholson reports, an answer may lie in the untapped potential of mothers, who are still expected to forego their careers for their kids.
CHRISTINE SINGER: (Speaking German).
ESME NICHOLSON, BYLINE: It's breakfast time at the Singer household, and the clock is ticking before kindergarten drop-off. Christina Singer is returning to work after taking parental leave with her second daughter. The 37-year-old project manager says she doesn't know how she's going to fit it all in.
SINGER: (Through interpreter) The male colleague who filled in for me actually did my part-time role full-time, taking five days a week to get the same job done as I do in four days.
NICHOLSON: Singer's more-for-less setup is typical in Germany, where every second woman works part-time, compared with 12% of men. Singer says it's the fact that her productivity goes unrecognized that stings, that and Chancellor Friedrich Merz declaring that Germans need to work on their work ethic.
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FRIEDRICH MERZ: (Through interpreter) We need to work more and, crucially, more efficiently again. We have no hope of maintaining our nation's prosperity with a four-day week or work-life balance.
NICHOLSON: Singer says the fact that she does the same job in less time than her male colleague is surely the definition of efficiency. Merz's assertion is based on the latest statistics from the OECD, the policy club of the world's richest nations, revealing that Germans are working historically short hours and far fewer than other major economies. To boost GDP, some economists advocate scrapping a public holiday. Michaela Hermann, a labor market economist at the Bertelsmann Foundation, says there's a fairer option.
MICHAELA HERMANN: (Through interpreter) Highly qualified mothers present enormous economic potential. The more inclusive we make our labor market, the more hours we'll work. Scrapping a public holiday each year just isn't enough. We need structural change to increase productivity.
NICHOLSON: Hermann says structural change includes abolishing a tax subsidy given to married couples where one spouse earns far less than the other. She says it discourages the lower earner, almost always women, from working more hours. But it's not just a matter of policy. Isabel Heinemann, a professor of history at the University of Bayreuth, says that societal expectations are still shaped by the 14th century concept of the Rabenmutter, or raven mother, a pejorative label reserved for women who ostensibly abandon their children by going out to work.
ISABEL HEINEMANN: (Through interpreter) The term raven mother is by no means consigned to history. Women are confronted with it constantly, and it shows in the hard data. Just take a look at the gaping gender pay gap and the fact that 1 in 2 women work part time in Germany.
NICHOLSON: Heinemann says science has since discovered that ravens don't actually abandon their young, a fact that's been ignored when it comes to mothers.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: (Non-English language spoken).
NICHOLSON: Kathrin Lang, an organizational psychologist and mother of two, says she rarely hears the term Rabenmutter but feels its influence linger in the office on a daily basis.
KATHRIN LANG: (Through interpreter) Loads of dads go to evening events, but I'm the only one who gets asked, who is looking after your kids? I feel like I have to constantly defend my decision to be back to work as a mother.
NICHOLSON: Lang was turned down for a top position because she works part time, and her proposal to job-share with a colleague was rejected.
LANG: (Through interpreter) Management roles here are so male-dominated that it turns female candidates off.
NICHOLSON: Lang adds that if Friedrich Merz had more female policy advisers, he might just recognize the economic value of highly productive, top-performing working mothers. For NPR News, I'm Esme Nicholson in Berlin. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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