Please provide a citation. In 2022, about 30% of new hires had a term limit. The peak was in 2004, with about 54% at a time when very few positions were available.

https://doku.iab.de/arbeitsmarktdaten/Befristungen_bei_Neuei...

I already cited the share of term limited contracts above.

It’s not surprising that term limited contracts are a significant chunk of the Job offerings, even if they are a small share of the total contracts - a job posting that must be renewed annually will appear every year for the same position, while an unlimited contract only opens up when a replacement must be found or a new position is created. Another cause is that a lot of companies use a limited contract as a trial period and later convert to an unlimited contract at renewal time.

It is absolutely true that some sectors suffer from having a huge chunk of limited contracts (academia for example) and that there’s abuse (auxiliary teachers only being employed during the term and made redundant during vacations), but generalizing this to the entire German job market is neither warranted nor helpful.