Trainees have significantly more in their pockets once again

For the third year in a row, 2014 saw a strong increase in training allowances based on collective wage agreements. The average gross amount earned by trainees in West Germany was €802 per month. This represents a rise of 4.6% compared to the previous year and is also higher than the growth of 4.1% that took place in 2013. In East Germany, training allowances based on collective wage agreements rose by 4.1% to reach an average of €737 per month. In this case, however, the percentage increase was somewhat down on the 5.0% achieved in 2013. There has been no change in the gap in collective wage agreement levels between the East and the West. As in the previous years, the amount of remuneration in East Germany stood at 92% of the western rate. The average training allowance based on collective wage agreements for the whole of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2014 was €795 per month, an increase of 4.5 % compared to the previous year.

These results were arrived at by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) in its 2014 evaluation of training allowances based on collective wage agreements. Average remunerations were calculated for 179 occupations in West Germany and 156 occupations in East Germany. 88% of trainees are trained in these occupations. BIBB has been carrying out this evaluation, for which the cut-off date is 1 October, on an annual basis since 1976.

There were once again considerable differences in the amount of remuneration between the training occupations. Training allowances based on collective wage agreements were particularly high in the main construction trades, such as bricklayer, in West Germany, where the average level is €1,030 per month. Average remuneration in the main construction trades in East Germany was lower, the corresponding figure here being €834. Very high allowances were also paid in occupations such as mechatronics fitter (West: €964, East: €943), insurance and financial services broker (West and East: €961 and print media technologist (West and East: €933).

Training allowances based on collective wage agreements tended to be low in occupations such as hairdresser (West: €474, East: €269), baker (West and East: €570), florist (West: €572, East: €312) and painter and varnisher (West and East: €583).

Increasing problems in filling training places in particular have meant that rises in training allowances since 2012 have been higher than for some considerable time. Over the past three years, average rates of increase in West and East Germany have been between 4% and 5%. However, in occupations with the greatest shortages of applicants, such as craft trade occupations in the food industry, occupations in the hotel and restaurant trade, and occupations in the cleaning sector, only isolated cases of above-average increases in training allowances based on collective wage agreements can be observed in 2014. In West Germany, this applied, for example, to the occupations of “restaurant specialist” and “cook”, which both saw rises of 4.9%. In East Germany, remuneration in the occupation of “industrial cleaner” went up by 8.2%.

There were also once again clear differences between training sectors in the level of remuneration in West and East Germany in 2014. Above-average training allowances were achieved in trade and industry (West: €871, East: €797) and in the public sector (West and East: €860). By way of contrast, training allowances were below the average level in agriculture (West: €710, East: €601), in the liberal professions (West: €697, East: €699) and in the craft trades sector (West: €669, East: €572).

A detailed presentation of the results and four downloadable charts are presented in the article “Training allowances based on collective wage agreements 2014 – significant increases in West and East Germany”, which is available on the BIBB website at www.bibb.de/ausbildungsverguetung-2014.

An overall summary of the average levels of remuneration identified in the occupations forming the object of the survey can be accessed via www.bibb.de/ausbildungsverguetung.

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