The Pleasure of a Surplus Income

Published in Association with the German Historical Institute Washington D.C. At a time when part-time jobs are ubiquitous it is easy to forget that they are a relatively new phenomenon. This book explores the reasons behind the introduction of this specific form of work in West Germany and shows how it took root in both norm and law in factories government authorities and offices as well as within families and the lives of individual women. The author covers the period from the early 1950s a time of optimism during the first postwar economic upswing to 1969 the culmination of the legislative institutionalization of part-time work.