income
One fifth of all full-time employees are low-paid
The proportion of low-wage earners among full-time employees without a vocational qualification was 40.8 percent. Photo: Daniel Karmann / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The number of low-wage earners in Germany has fallen significantly, especially in the east. However, there are still big differences depending on the region, job and gender.
Almost a fifth of all full-time employees in Germany are low-wage earners.
You have to make ends meet on a gross wage of less than 2284 euros per month. This is the result of a study by the Institute for Economic and Social Sciences (WSI) of the union-affiliated Hans Böckler Foundation.
Women, young full-time employees, those with foreign citizenship and people without a professional qualification have to get by on low wages more than average. In addition, the proportion of low-wage earners in eastern Germany is still significantly higher than in the west.
The study is based on pay data from the Federal Employment Agency. Nationwide, around 18.7 percent of full-time employees were among the low-wage earners in 2020, earning less than two-thirds of the median gross monthly wage of all full-time employees subject to social insurance.
Compared to 2011, however, this is a noticeable improvement. At that time, 21.1 percent of full-time employees fell into the low-wage category. “In recent years we have succeeded in pushing back the lower pay range,” said Helge Emmler, one of the authors of the study, describing the trend. This applies in particular to eastern Germany.
The study shows large differences in income by region, gender, industry and qualification. While in 2020 in Wolfsburg just 6.4 percent and in Erlangen only 8.3 percent of full-time employees worked in the lower pay range, it was more than 40 percent in Görlitz, the Saale-Orla district and the Erzgebirge district. Low rates of low-wage earners are mostly to be found in cities and metropolitan areas where large employers from industry, finance and knowledge or administration play an important role.
Nationwide, 25.4 percent of women had to get by on a low monthly income despite full-time work, but only 15.4 percent of men. Training also plays a major role: the proportion of low-wage earners was 40.8 percent for full-time employees without a vocational qualification, 17.8 percent for those with a vocational qualification and only 4.9 percent for those with a university certificate.
There were also huge differences between the industries. In the hospitality industry (68.9 percent), contract work (67.9) and agriculture and forestry (52.7), more than half of the full-time employees worked in the lower pay bracket. In the metal and electrical industry, on the other hand, it was only 7.6 percent, in the finance and insurance industry 4.2 percent and in the public sector only 2.5 percent of full-time employees.