Print version Recommend this page Press release
01/ 2007
Bonn, 04.01.2007
Training allowances based on collective wage agreements 2006: continuing very small increase
The gross average earnings of trainees in West Germany were 629 € per month in 2006. This represented an average increase of 1.0% in training allowances based on collective wage agreements, the same increase as in the previous year (see Figure 1). In East Germany, training allowances based on collective wage agreements went up by 1.3% in 2006 to an average of 536 € per month, a more significant increase than had occurred in the year before (0.6 %). The gap to western pay scales remained the same, the East having reached an average of 85% of western levels of remuneration since 2001. For Germany as a whole, the average level of pay based on collective wage agreements was 613 € per month in 2006, representing an increase of 1.1% compared to the previous year (607 €).
These are the results of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) evaluation of training allowances based on collective wage agreements for 2006. Average remunerations were calculated for 186 occupations in West Germany and 151 occupations in East Germany. These occupations account for the training of 87% of apprentices in the 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.
Considerable differences in the level of remuneration were in evidence between the occupations (see Figure 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 collectively agreed pay in the main occupations within the construction industry (such as bricklayer). In 2006, the average monthly levels here were 833 € in the West and 679 € in the East. Remunerations were also high in both West and East Germany for the occupation of insurance management assistant, the average level being 813 € in both parts of the country. Occupations in which training allowances tended to be low included hairdresser (West: 418 €, East: 266 €), florist (West: 424 €, East: 312 €) and baker (West: 457 €, East: 351 €).
The fact that there are often wide regional and branch related variances in the amounts of training allowance paid for the same occupation within the scope of collective wage agreements needs to be taken into account when considering the occupationally specific average levels which have been calculated. Another factor which must be accorded consideration is that the training allowances based on collective wage agreements only apply to in-company vocational education and training. Trainees involved in publicly funded extra-company 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 in the 2006 study was as follows. In West Germany, 64% of trainees received training pay of between 500 € and 750 €. 15% of apprentices earned under 500 €, remunerations of under 400 € tending to represent exceptional cases, and 21% earned more than 750 €. In East Germany, the figures showed 52% of trainees earning training pay of between € 500 and € 750. 47% of apprentices were receiving training allowances of less than 500 €, 19% even earning less than 400 €. Only 1% of trainees were paid in excess of 750 €.
BIBB also calculated the average levels of remuneration for female and male trainees. These showed male trainees in the West earning an average of 643 €, the figure for female apprentices being 607 €. As far as the East was concerned, male trainees received an average of 548 € and females 516 €. The reason for these variances in average levels of remuneration is the uneven distribution of male and female trainees across occupations, in other words female apprentices are more often to be found in occupations with lower levels of training allowance than their male counterparts.
2006 saw significant differences in the level of training allowances according to training categories in both parts of Germany (see Figure 3). Above average levels of pay were achieved in trade and industry (West: 698 €, East: 597 €) and in public services (West: 671 €, East: 642 €). The levels of remuneration in craft trades, the liberal professions and agriculture, on the other hand, were below the respective 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 the trade and industry sector in particular as well as in the craft trades category.
The amounts stated above refer in each case to the average levels of pay throughout the whole of the apprenticeship period. For 2006, the figures relating to the individual training years were as follows. For West Germany, the average monthly levels of pay for the first year of training were 557 €, 625 € for the second year and 697 € for the third year. In East Germany, the average for the first year of apprenticeship was 471 €, the averages for the second and third years being 540 € and 599 € per month respectively.
Further English language information is available on the BIBB website at http://www.bibb.de/en/783.htm
