As of 2023, the average annual wage of Germany was 48,301 euros per year, a growth of almost 6,000 Euros when compared with 2000. From 2000 until 2007, wages rose by less than a thousand euros, with wage growth accelerating mainly in the period after 2010. Comparisons with rest of the EU Within the European Union Luxembourg had an average annual salary of almost 80 thousand Euros, with Germany having an annual salary comparable to other large European Countries, such as the United Kingdom and France. In neighboring Poland, the average annual salary was just over 39 thousand U.S dollars, meaning that German’s earned, on average, 20 percent more than what their Polish counterparts did. German economy slowing in 2023 While Germany initially had one of the strongest recoveries from the 2008 financial crash and as of 2020 had the largest economy in Europe its economy has started to slow in recent years. For 2023 the German economy is contracted by 0.26 percent, and while 2024 marked a slight improvement, the expectations are that 2025 remains a year of slow growth.

Wages in Germany increased to 4479 EUR/Month in 2023 from 4244 EUR/Month in 2022. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - Germany Average Gross Monthly Earnings - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

In April 2023, full-time employees in the financial and insurance activities sector had the highest average gross monthly earnings in Germany, at 5,841 euros. Other high-earning sectors in this ranking included information and communication and electricity, gas, steam, air conditioning supply.

Key information about Germany Monthly Earnings

• Germany Monthly Earnings stood at 5,369 USD in Dec 2024, compared with the previous figure of 5,026 USD in Sep 2024
• Germany Monthly Earnings data is updated quarterly, available from Mar 1991 to Dec 2024, with an average number of 3,739 USD
• The data reached the an all-time high of 5,369 USD in Dec 2024 and a record low of 2,213 USD in Jun 1991

CEIC calculates quarterly Monthly Earnings from quarterly Compensation per Employee divided by 3 and converts it into USD. Statistisches Bundesamt provides Compensation per Employee in EUR. Federal Reserve Board average market exchange rate is used for currency conversions. Monthly Earnings include wages and salaries and the employers' actual and imputed social contributions.


Further information about Germany Monthly Earnings

• In the latest reports, Germany Population reached 85 million people in Dec 2023
• Unemployment Rate of Germany remained the same at 3 % in Dec 2024
• The country's Labour Force Participation Rate increased to 56 % in Jun 2024

Germany had an average salary of 65.7 thousand U.S dollars per year in 2023, the highest among the five largest European economies. Germany has consistently had the highest wages in Europe over the last thirty years. Many countries in Europe experienced a significant decrease in their average wage level following the global financial crisis of 2008, with France and Germany bucking this trend by retaining robust wage growth. While British wages have stagnated since the crash, only surpassing their 2007 level in 2019, Italian and Spanish wages have in fact fallen, driven by the macroeconomic troubles of these countries since the Eurozone crisis.

In 2023, the average monthly wage of women in Germany was 4,000 euros. Men had a higher monthly salary at 4,702 euros. Generally, wages increased yearly.

German law graduates holding a doctorate degree can currently expect the highest average gross starting salary in the country when they enter the job market. Other degrees with good earning prospects include medicine, computer science (also with a doctorate degree), and industrial engineering. In comparison, those who studied graphics/design, humanities and social sciences are at the bottom of the starting salary food chain. Law courses among most attended Law, economics and social sciences were the subject groups seeing the highest student numbers in German universities, totaling over one million in 2023/2024. Engineering and mathematics rounded up the top three. German universities offer a variety of internationally recognized degrees, the Bachelor being the most frequently taken type of final exam. Slow yearly salary increase Among selected countries in the European Union, Germany ranks ninth in terms of average annual wages. All the same, when studying the change in average annual pay specifically in Germany during the last decade, a slow, but steady increase is visible year after year, until the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hit in 2020. Since then, the average wage has been decreasing and in 2023 was around the same level as in 2017.

In 2023, men in Germany who were employed full-time earned a monthly average of 4,702 euros. This figure has been increasing during the whole period displayed. The timeline at hand shows the average monthly gross earnings of men employed full-time in Germany from 1991 to 2023.

The analysis of real wages has a long tradition in Germany. The focus of the acquisition is on company wages, on wages of certain branches or for categories of workers as well as on the investigation of long term aggregated nominal and real wages. The study of Ashok V. Desai on the development of real wages in the German Reich between 1871 and 1913 is an important contribution to historical research on wages. The study is innovative and methodically on an exemplary level. But mainly responsible for the upswing in the historical research on wages in the 50s and 60s is an extraordinary publication by Jürgen Kuczynski. “The new historical research on wages in Germany is insolubly connected with Jürgen Kuczynski. In his broad researches the history of wages is only one section among many other themes but it is a very important one can be seen as the core piece of his work.” (Kaufhold, K.H., 1987: Forschungen zur deutschen Preis- und Lohngeschichte (seit 1930). In: Historia Socialis et Oeconomica. Festschrift für Wolfgang Zorn zum 65. Geburtstag. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, S, 83). In his first study on long series on nominal and real wages in Germany he used a broad empirical basis and encouraged more research in this area. His weaknesses are methodological inconsistencies and a restricted representativeness. For example he includes tariff wages but also actually paid wages. Some important industries like food or textile industry are not taken into account. Wages in agriculture were often estimated but without enough material necessary for a good estimation. Wages for work at home are not regraded in the calculation of the index. The weight of cities in the calculation of the index is relatively too high compared to rural regions and therefor it leaks regional representativeness. In his study Desai uses the reports of trade associations for the Reich´s insurance office on the persons who are insured in the accident insurance and their wages as a basis for the calculation of annual nominal average wages. Desais focusses on industrial wages because only for them long term series are available. As the insurance premiums are calculated according to the income level the documents of the trade associations can be used for the calculation of an index for wages development. Desais study is also very useful regarding the calculation of a new index for costs of living based the model of a typical worker family. „F. Grumbach and H. König have used the same sources to derive indices of industrial earnings. The main differences between their series and ours are: (a) we have adopted the industrial classification followed by the Reichsversicherungsamt, while Grumbach and König have made larger industrial groups, (b) we have calculated average annual earnings, while they claim to have calculated average daily earnings (i.e. to have adjusted the annual figures for the average number of days worked per year per worker), and (c) they have failed to correct distortions in the original data” (Desai, A.V., 1968: Real Wages in Germany 1871–1913. Oxford. Clarendon Press, S. 4).

Register of tables in HISTAT: A. Overviews A.1 Overview: Different estimations of the real and nominal gross wages in the German Reich, index 1913 = 100 (1871-1913) A.2 Overview: Development of costs of living, index 1913 = 100 (1871-1913) A.3 Overview: Development of nominal and real wages, index 1913=100 (1844-1937)

D. Study by Ashok V. Desai D.01 Different estimations of real wages in the German Reich, index 1895 = 100 (1871-1913) D.02 Annual average wage (1871-1886) D.03 Annual gross wages in chosen production segments (1887-1913) D.04 Annual average wage in industry, transportation and trade (1871-1913) D.05 Construction of an index for costs of living, 1895 = 100 (1871-1913) D.06 Real wages, in constant prices from 1895 (1871-1913) D.07 Wheat prices and prices for wheat bread (1872-1913) D.08 Rye prices and prices for rye bread (1872-1913) D.09 Average export prices by product groups, index 1895 = 100 (1872-1913) D.10 Average import prices by product groups, index 1895 = 100 (1872-1913) D.11 Average export prices, import prices and terms of trade, index 1895 = 100 (1872-1913)

O. Study by Thomas J. Orsagh O. Adjusted indices for costs of living and real wages after Orsgah, index 1913 = 100 (1871-1913)

Explore the progression of average salaries for graduates in German Studies And Literature from 2020 to 2023 through this detailed chart. It compares these figures against the national average for all graduates, offering a comprehensive look at the earning potential of German Studies And Literature relative to other fields. This data is essential for students assessing the return on investment of their education in German Studies And Literature, providing a clear picture of financial prospects post-graduation.

Germany DE: Wages Index data was reported at 119.343 2010=100 in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 115.816 2010=100 for 2016. Germany DE: Wages Index data is updated yearly, averaging 98.357 2010=100 from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2017, with 18 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 119.343 2010=100 in 2017 and a record low of 83.569 2010=100 in 2000. Germany DE: Wages Index data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by International Monetary Fund. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Germany – Table DE.IMF.IFS: Wages, Labour Cost and Employment Index: Annual.

The average net annual salary per employee in Germany amounted to around 30,665 euros in 2023. Approximately 18 percent of German households had a monthly net income of 5,000 euros or more that year.

Explore the progression of average salaries for graduates in German And Business Administration (Dual Major) from 2020 to 2023 through this detailed chart. It compares these figures against the national average for all graduates, offering a comprehensive look at the earning potential of German And Business Administration (Dual Major) relative to other fields. This data is essential for students assessing the return on investment of their education in German And Business Administration (Dual Major), providing a clear picture of financial prospects post-graduation.

Explore the progression of average salaries for graduates in German Languate And Literature from 2020 to 2023 through this detailed chart. It compares these figures against the national average for all graduates, offering a comprehensive look at the earning potential of German Languate And Literature relative to other fields. This data is essential for students assessing the return on investment of their education in German Languate And Literature, providing a clear picture of financial prospects post-graduation.

The present study aims to estimate the development of employment and wages in Germany based on accident insurance statistics. Data on the number of insured persons allow an estimation of employment by economic groups. Thereby it is important to take the increasing share of insured persons in the entire labor force in consideration. Data from the accident insurance is suitable for wage statistics because besides the values of the earned wages it also contains numbers on the yearly average of employees corrected for the number of working days. The investigation period is from 1888 to 1954 with the exception of the years of war and hyperinflation. The first three years after the introduction of the accident insurance are not taken into account as there are no reliable documents for this period. The analysis is restricted to the economic sectors which were subject to compulsory insurance since the beginning of the investigation period: industry, crafts and traffic. In the sector of traffic extra sources for data on railways were used. The increasing significance of the industrial sector regarding the overall economic employment volume as well as the income generation can be seen looking at the development of the number of employees and wages in relation to the per capita income growth. The industrialization process leads to structural changes in the entire economy which results in a steady relative decline in the agrarian sector. Within the industrial sector most chances and developments are in favor of the industries producing mainly investment goods. This process causes that the growth rates of industrial employment, of average wages and of the wage level primarily depend on those industry groups. Due to these different growth processes within the industrial sector a theoretical differentiation of the wage structure of both groups is necessary because the investment goods industries which has a higher need of expansion need to pay higher wages in order to get the necessary workforce for their expansion. At the beginning of the first world war the wage difference between the two industry groups has increased to 36,5% in 1913 ( it was only 26,5% in 1888). But in the following years there is not such a strong tendency. Probably the increasing power of trade unions caused a consolidation of the “traditional” wage structure. This is also supported by the fact that wage differences between all industries are quite small in the period after the First World War. The increases in real wages during the investigation period are smaller than 100%. This results in a yearly average increase of ca 1%. This is a development of real wages on a significantly lower level compared to other countries such as Sweden, France, Great Britain and The US. A reason for this is the missing real wage increase during the years of war and the first years after the war.

Register of tables in HISTAT: - Working population in thousands with their main profession in Germany (1882-1950) - Employees in Germany (1882-1954) - Index number for costs of living, nominal wages and real wages in Germany (1888-1954) - Development of average wages in the industry groups in the German (1888-1912) - Shares of different industry groups in the total labor force in Germany (1882-1954)

Germany IES: Average Monthly Household Income (AMHI): Gross Income data was reported at 4,846.000 EUR in 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 4,086.000 EUR for 2013. Germany IES: Average Monthly Household Income (AMHI): Gross Income data is updated yearly, averaging 3,707.000 EUR from Dec 1998 (Median) to 2018, with 5 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 4,846.000 EUR in 2018 and a record low of 3,299.000 EUR in 1998. Germany IES: Average Monthly Household Income (AMHI): Gross Income data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statistisches Bundesamt. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Germany – Table DE.H023: Household Income and Expenditure Survey.

Full-time employees with an academic background earned an average annual salary of around 60,500 euros gross in Germany as of 2024. For university graduates, starting salaries varied depending on the field of study.

In this studiy a compilation of the average earnings growth rates since 1850 on the basis of different sources is given: the yearly growth-rates of average work-income from 1850 to 1951 (according to Walther G. Hoffmann), the growth rate of average gross compensation, growth rate of gross hourly earnings of industrial workers, growth rate of gross earnings ( according to D. Schewe/K. Nordhorn, H.J. Müller und R. Skiba).

Topics

Timeseries available via the downloadsystem HISTAT:

A.1 Die Wachstumsrate der Lohneinkommen im Deutschen Reich und in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (1850-1959) B.1 Die Entwicklung der Wachstumsrate des durchschnittlichen Lohneinkommens im Deutschen Reich und in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (1917-1967) B.2 Wachstumsrate der Lohneinkommen in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (1951-1968)

Explore the progression of average salaries for graduates in Second Language Acquisition Teaching German from 2020 to 2023 through this detailed chart. It compares these figures against the national average for all graduates, offering a comprehensive look at the earning potential of Second Language Acquisition Teaching German relative to other fields. This data is essential for students assessing the return on investment of their education in Second Language Acquisition Teaching German, providing a clear picture of financial prospects post-graduation.

About this dataset

Context

The dataset presents the mean household income for each of the five quintiles in New Germany, MN, as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau. The dataset highlights the variation in mean household income across quintiles, offering valuable insights into income distribution and inequality.

Key observations

• Income disparities: The mean income of the lowest quintile (20% of households with the lowest income) is 30,969, while the mean income for the highest quintile (20% of households with the highest income) is 215,949. This indicates that the top earners earn 7 times compared to the lowest earners.
• *Top 5%: * The mean household income for the wealthiest population (top 5%) is 309,570, which is 143.35% higher compared to the highest quintile, and 999.61% higher compared to the lowest quintile.

Content

When available, the data consists of estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2019-2023 5-Year Estimates.

Income Levels:

• Lowest Quintile
• Second Quintile
• Third Quintile
• Fourth Quintile
• Highest Quintile
• Top 5 Percent

Variables / Data Columns

• Income Level: This column showcases the income levels (As mentioned above).
• Mean Household Income: Mean household income, in 2023 inflation-adjusted dollars for the specific income level.

Good to know

Margin of Error

Data in the dataset are based on the estimates and are subject to sampling variability and thus a margin of error. Neilsberg Research recommends using caution when presening these estimates in your research.

Custom data

If you do need custom data for any of your research project, report or presentation, you can contact our research staff at research@neilsberg.com for a feasibility of a custom tabulation on a fee-for-service basis.

Inspiration

Neilsberg Research Team curates, analyze and publishes demographics and economic data from a variety of public and proprietary sources, each of which often includes multiple surveys and programs. The large majority of Neilsberg Research aggregated datasets and insights is made available for free download at https://www.neilsberg.com/research/.

Recommended for further research

This dataset is a part of the main dataset for New Germany median household income. You can refer the same here