Large labour force potential is not being used.

Germany is sitting on a veritable treasure trove of untapped labour potential. The greatest lever for releasing this potential lies in increasing the number of working hours per capita and not in increasing the number of people in employment. There are still large reserves in the labour force participation of the over 50 to 70-year-olds and immigrants living in Germany. There is also a great deal of potential among women working part-time without children to look after. This was determined by the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IAW) on behalf of the Family Business Foundation in a simulation calculation.

Press release (in German)

The study (in German) can be downloaded here.