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Here’s where employees earn the most (and least) in Germany

There are still large regional differences in the salaries of employees across Germany – especially between the east and west, new figures show.

Here's where employees earn the most (and least) in Germany
Employees in the Audi car plant in Ingolstadt, Bavaria. Photo: DPA

The 60 districts and cities in Germany where people earn the least are all located in the east of the country. That's according to data from the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit) and analyzed by both The Left Party (die Linke) and Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Last year, full-time employees in the Saxon district of Görlitz earned the least, with a gross monthly income of €2,272.

Also at the lower end of the scale was Saxony's Erzgebirgskreis region where workers earned on average €2,301. Next was Vorpommern-Rügen in the state of Mecklenburg Western-Pomerania (€2,303), followed by the Altenburger Land in Thuringia, where employees earned an average gross monthly income of €2,308.

Explained: The worst and best paid jobs in Germany

At the top of the earning scale was Ingolstadt in Bavaria, where employees earned a gross monthly income of €4,897 last year.

In fact, in the four cities and districts with the highest incomes, employees received on average more than twice as much as in the four districts with the lowest earnings.

Ingolstadt was followed by Wolfsburg (€4,893) in Lower Saxony, Erlangen (€4,787) in Bavaria, and Böblingen in Baden-Württemberg (€4,743).

Why are there big differences between east and west?

Three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall there remains a gulf between eastern and western Germany.

On the topic of wages, a recent government report on German reunification pointed out that one reason eastern Germany lags behind is because nearly all large firms have their headquarters in the west – not the east.

The fact that Ingolstadt and Wolfsburg are the two cities with the highest incomes could partly be because they are home to the headquarters of the Audi and Volkswagen car groups.

Overall, eastern states remain well below the level of the west – although they are catching up slightly.

SEE ALSO: The east-west divide is diminishing but differences still remain

An employee in the Siemens plant in Görlitz, Saxony. Photo: DPA

Average income in the west rose from €3,339 in 2017 to €3,434 last year – an increase of 2.85 percent. But in the eastern states, average earnings rose by 4.88 percent to €2,707.

Hamburg is top state for earning

The state with the highest gross monthly average income is Hamburg (€3,718), followed by Baden-Württemberg (€3,651), Hesse (€3,593), Bremen (€3,475) and Bavaria (€3,449 euros).

Those states are followed by Saarland (€3,392 euros), North Rhine-Westphalia (€3,391), Rhineland-Palatinate (€3,265), Berlin (€3,242), Lower Saxony (€3,175) and Schleswig-Holstein (€3,045).

At the other end of the scale is Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania where employees earn the least in Germany (on average €2,496 per month), followed by Thuringia (€2,553), Saxony (€2,587), Brandenburg (€2,593) and Saxony-Anhalt (€2,595).

READ ALSO: In eastern Germany, the gender pay gap favours women

In Hamburg, only 40 percent of employees earned less than the German national average of €3,304 – in Mecklenburg-Western-Pomerania that figure was 73 percent.

Sabine Zimmermann, labour market expert for The Left, said the fact that there are much lower wages in the east was “shameful”. Zimmermann called for an increase in the minimum wage to €12 per hour and to abolish temporary contracts.

The AfD's labour market expert René Springer called on the government to organize a cross-party summit to focus on economy, growth and social security in eastern Germany.

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WORKING IN GERMANY

Which Bavaria-based companies regularly hire English speakers?

Bavaria is no doubt a beautiful state with a strong economy, but can be a hard place for non-German speakers to integrate. The Local takes a look at job opportunities in Germany’s southeastern 'Free State.'

Which Bavaria-based companies regularly hire English speakers?

Munich ranks third in German cities with the highest total GDP, behind Berlin and Hamburg, but in terms of GDP per capita, it’s higher than both of them.

It also consistently ranks high, often highest, in terms of average household income.

As of 2023, nine of the 40 companies listed on DAX, Germany’s stock index, were based in Bavaria. Seven of those are based specifically in Munich.

While Frankfurt is commonly known to be Germany’s business capital, Munich can claim the title of Germany’s insurance capital, which is saying something, as Germany is home to some of the largest insurance firms in the world, like Allianz.

Beyond the state’s capital city, a number of international companies are based elsewhere in Bavaria, particularly in the Franken region, near Nuremberg.

Which companies actively hire English speakers?

Bavaria, and Munich in particular, is home to a number of companies at the forefront of international business. But the state is known for its traditional, sometimes conservative, culture, which affects its business culture as well.

Whereas companies embracing English as their primary business language are easy to find in Berlin, the practice is less common in the south. That said, there are some notable exceptions. 

Sportswear giants, Adidas and Puma, both have their headquarters near Nuremberg in Herzogenaurach, and regularly recruit English speaking international talent.

“As an international company, our teams reflect the rich diversity of our consumers and communities,” Jon Greenhalgh, Senior Manager Media Relations for Adidas told The Local. “Fostering a culture of inclusion where we value and leverage differences, ensures that we can authentically engage with our employees and truly connect with our consumers.”

He added that around 40 per cent of Adidas’ Germany-based employees are foreign nationals, from over 100 different countries.

Siemens and BMW rank among Bavaria’s top employers, and are also known to hire their fair share of foreigners.

“In Germany, we recently had around 2,000 open positions,” Konstanze Somborn told The Local on behalf of Siemens AG.

He added that Siemens operates in 190 countries. “That is why we value international teams very much…English as a common language is very usual.”

READ ALSO: ‘Which German companies want to hire foreigners?’

Similarly, BMW hires workers from a variety of backgrounds. 

“Every year, we hire lots of internationals and welcome them to the BMW Group,” Dr. Hans-Peter Ketterl, a press spokesman for BMW Group told The Local. 

But not all of these positions are available to non-German speakers.

Ketterl added that BMW’s working language is German in the country, even though, “English is an indispensable entry requirement as the second corporate language in many areas of the company.”

Check job boards and follow best practices

If it’s your first time applying for jobs in Germany, make sure to change your resume to the German format, even for English positions.

While Germany is home to its own job boards, like Xing, LinkedIn is probably the best place to start. In addition to searching for positions based in your preferred location, you can check relevant groups, like Munich Startups, to broaden your horizons.

The English Jobs in Germany website is also a good resource to start with. 

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