Print version Recommend this page Press release
01/ 2006
Bonn, 05.01.2006
Training allowances based on collective wage agreements in 2005: very small increase compared to previous year
The average earnings of trainees in West Germany were 623 € per month in 2005. This represented an average increase of 1.0% in training allowances based on collective wage agreements, only slightly higher than the 0.8% rise in average allowances seen in the previous year (see Diagram 1). In East Germany, training allowances based on collective wage agreements went up by 0.6% in 2005 to an average of 529 € per month, a much less significant increase than had occurred in the year before (1.7 %). The gap to western pay scales remained the same, the new federal states of East Germany having reached an average of 85% of western levels of remuneration since 2001.
For Germany as a whole, the average level of training pay was 607 € per month in 2005, representing an increase of 1.0 % compared to the previous year (601 €).
Diagram 1 01
These are the results of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) evaluation of training allowances based on collective wage agreements for 2005. Average remunerations were calculated for 187 occupations in West Germany and 152 occupations in East Germany. These occupations account for 87% of apprentices in East and West. The higher levels of training pay for apprentices aged over 18 which have been agreed in about 5% of collective wage agreements have been taken into consideration in the calculations.
Diagram 2 01
Considerable differences in the level of remuneration were in evidence between the occupations (see Diagram 2). The occupation of inland bargeman attracted by far the highest levels of training allowances, 925 € per month in both West and East Germany. There is also a long history of high levels of collective pay in the main occupations within the construction industry (such as bricklayer, carpenter and road builder.) In 2005, the average levels here were 833 € per month in the West and 679 € in the East. Remuneration was also high in both West and East Germany for the occupation of insurance management assistant, the average level being 805 € in both parts of the country. Occupations in which training allowances tended to be low included hairdresser (West: 415 €, East: 260 €), florist (West: 424 €, East: 312 €), baker (West: 457 €, East: 351 €) and joiner (West: 492 €, Ost: 372 €). In many cases, there are wide regional and branch related variances in the amounts of training allowance paid for the same occupation within the scope of collective wage agreements, and this is something which needs to be taken into consideration when calculating average values.
Another factor which needs to be taken into account is the fact that training allowances based on collective wage agreements only apply to in-company vocational education and training. Trainees involved in external training usually receive much lower levels of remuneration, and these have not been included here.
In general terms, the distribution of training allowances in the occupations investigated within the study was as follows. In West Germany, 54% of trainees received training pay between 500 € and 700 €. 15% of apprentices earned under 500 €, remunerations of under 400 € tending to represent exceptional cases, and 31% were earning more than 700 €. In East Germany, the figures showed 42% of trainees earning training pay of between € 500 and € 700. 48% of apprentices were receiving training allowances of less than 500 €, 19% even earning less than 400 €. 10 % of trainees were paid in excess of 700 €.
Within the scope of its evaluation of training allowances based on collective wage agreements for 2005, BIBB also calculated the average levels of remuneration for female and male trainees. These showed male trainees in the West earning an average of 636 €, the figure for female apprentices being 602 €. As far as the east was concerned, males received 540 € and females 511 €. The reason for these variances in average levels of remuneration is the uneven distribution of male and female trainees within occupations, in other words female apprentices are more often to be found in occupations with lower levels of training pay than their male counterparts.
Diagram 3 01
2005 saw significant differences in the level of training allowances according to category of occupation in both parts of Germany (see Diagram 3). Above average levels of pay were achieved in trade and industry (West: 692 €, East: 588 €) and in public services (West: 670 €, East: 626 €). The levels of remuneration in craft trades, the self-employed sector and agriculture, on the other hand, were below the overall average. One factor to be borne in mind here, however, is the fact that there are considerable variances in levels of pay in individual occupations in both the trade and industry and craft trades sector.
The amounts stated above refer in each case to the average levels of pay throughout the whole of the apprenticeship period. For 2005, the figures relating to the individual training years were as follows. For West Germany, the average levels of pay for the first year of training were 553 €, 618 € for the second year and 688 € for the third year. In East Germany, the average for the first year of apprenticeship was 464 €, the averages for the second and third years being 535 € and 590 € per month respectively.
