Salary levels for various jobs in Germany

Hello,

I've been asked by a prospective employer to provide my salary requirements. Does anyone know where I can quickly find out average or standard pay scales for different types of work in Germany? I can find this info for the US at www.salary.com, among other places, but I have had no luck finding an equivalent for Germany.

Many thanks,
Margie

The German words for such salary-related information are: Gehaltsspiegel and Gehaltstest

See: Jobpilot.de - Gehaltstest

The Süddeutsche Zeitung has another: Gehaltstest A-Z

For example, their result for technical writers is:

• €2,000 to €2,700 per month for new starters
• €3,626 to €6,097 for experienced employees

See also the search results for other salary-related topics on this forum.

I would correct that writer's salary downwards and add:

• €1,800 to €2,500 per month for new starters
• €2,600 to €4,000 for experienced employees (2-5 years experience)

And this gross salary of course, i.e. total before tax.

I'd agree with Elfenstar - but I would raise it to €4,500 or €5,000 for experienced employees.

Margie, whilst taking into account what people have posted... be careful to ensure that you get a good salary that also allows you to fly home and save money. Now is the time to get the best deal not in a year's time when you've found out that you've negotiated badly...

More is normally better.

More is better unless you out-bid yourself for the job.

Granted but less is also a bummer when you sit next to people (doing the same job) who negotiated better or you find your standard of living has been reduced. So one has to be very careful with negotiating salaries for a job abroad.

I remember some pipsqueak who got 10 to 20% more than a bunch at expats at my last german firm even though he was straight out of Uni. Another guy negotiated badly and then tried to claw it back but he was on the pay scale then so they would pay him an extra 2 or 3% extra a year - meaning he'd catch up to the other guy after about 10 years...!!! Shit firm anyhow.

Try to talk about a "range" you are willing to accept so you give the interviewer some leeway -knowing that the mid point is what you want. What they reply will give you some indication about how much they want you.

You should know exactly how contracts with employees work. I've never negotiated in Germany.

Yeah, salary negotiations are difficult. Keep your confidence up and remember all the nightmare deadlines and difficult people you have to work with as a tech writer. From a tech writer to you, don't forget that.

I'd ask a lot of questions about their process because that will indicate to you how well organized they really are and how difficult it will be to work within their schedules and among people who are mostly viewed as more important to the company than whatever contribution you make. If it is a small department or a well-established technical publications group, that makes a huge difference too. Your reporting structure also has an impact. Are you reporting to marketing, engineering, or some hybrid of workers that nobody knows what to do with? The closer you are to engineering, the better, unless you enjoy writing fiction.

Good luck to you! I hope it all goes well.

Does anyone know the average salary in Germany?

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Salary of what? Butcher, baker, candlestick maker? IT consultant fluent in 7 different computer languages? Prostitute? Star striker for Bundesliga team? Au-pair?

I think he means for an astronaut.

€4,00

Is that per minute, hour, week, bushel, ounce, hectare?

The national average gross income for industry, commerce, banking and insurance industry jobs is €3,452 / month. This is according to DeStat.

€60,000 per year is a very good salary in Germany.

...especially if you live in Dresden.

Hi Guys,

I have an opportunity for a Marketing manager position based near Frankfurt (company is in IT). I have a BA in Marketing, 4-5 years experience that are very relevant to the job and have the bilingual language skills that are required. I have been researching into salary levels but I am getting different information:
- Posts on TT seem to indicate a 40-45k range although pelicanist reported a 55k offer
- Monster says 44k for 3-5 years experience and project leaders
- Aquent has a survey of european salaries which states a median salary for Marketing Manager of 119k. Their median salary for a Marketing assistant is 54k
- Payscale indicates 60k for a Marketing Manager

We haven't discussed salary yet and I am wondering how much I should ask - I feel I would be underselling myself at 45k and that my range should be more like 50-60. I am thinking of asking for the higher end of that range. Is this too high, too low or about right?

Your honest opinion would be much appreciated!

Thanks

i am with your first point, the TT posts (and Monster).
but that might not be right for you as it depends on the job (ie responsibility, how many staff, how established is the marketing department) as well as how much the company values marketing and whether they think marketing is important.
i am no good at salary discussions but i think you should go for the high end or least what you think your work/position is worth.

Can you please tell me the expected salary in Medium Size Firm (Automotive TIER-1 Supplier for lighting) in Bonn? The following are the consideration factors:

1. university graduate engineer having 7 years of experience in Design & Development
2. Lighting Design Specialist (It is optical-mechanical-electrical field.. Very few design engineers are in this field worldwide and in Germany also). It’s very hard to get the experienced Lighting Designer in Industry.
3. Right now, no German Speaking ability.. English Speaking..
4. Company is Medium Sized and located in Bonn

Can you please give me the idea what will be the good salary by considering the above factors?
Thanks in advance…

I'd offer you an hourly rate of €10-11 an hour, depending on the light at the end of the tunnel

I wished I hadn't looked in here. That's my weekend fucked anyway

There's a list of salary rates by job in Germany here:
http://www.worldsalaries.org/germany.shtml

I had access to the list of salary for my department (IT) and it's > €3,000 even for a Werkstudent and up to >€9,000 for a specialist! People who have been with the company for over 10 years get at least €6K! Now I wonder if the salary increment was 10% per year! Mine is far away. I need to talk to my boss...

Where do you work? Maybe I should look for a job there

Let's say that it's a global Japanese

In case someone out there is from my company

do u sing the company anthem every day?

Can anyone give me an idea for what a college graduate can expect to earn before taxes and insurances with 3 years working experience after college. Of course this will varys depending on your profession. Specifically I would like to know what the average engineer would earn with that level of experience. I would also be interested in knowing what the combined average income for all fields is for a person with that experience. In california it falls within $40,000 to $50,000 per year.

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For several reasons there is no straight answer to your question. You could read the several threads on salaries in the forum to have a better idea.

This thread has been quite helpful, actually. Thanks to all who posted. My post got dropped in here by the editor after I tried posting it somewhere else, so please disregard it.

There are salary surveys on jobpilot.de. The outlook in Germany for my profession, medicine, is very poor. German physicians earn about one third of what their American counterparts earn(if the US dollar collapses this might change), that is why I decided to work in Australia because physician salaries are much better there, but that is because of supply and demand. Germany has an oversupply of physicians while Australia has a shortage of them.

Britain has been aggressively recruiting GPs over the past few years, I have heard of German physicians being flown into the UK to work locums in British hospitals.

Hi there,

I am currently on a job hunt and found a somewhat job posting in Hamburg for engine/automotive engineer. I have 5 years experience in this related field and have gone through Bachelor Engineering Honours (4 years) Degree Programme, something like British University Education, which i think its like a Dip Ing (FH) in Germany, not exactly like the 5 years Dip Ing TU or University. So, having said that, what should I expect a salary range in Hamburg? Is it true that its anual salary in Germany is actually on 13 months basis? I am thinking of starting my offer at 65K Euro anually. Would anyone out there know this figure? Danke Schoen.

Topics merged by admin

First of all, welcome to TT. For you to have a clue about things, use the search function. It usually will tell you what you need to know. There are several threads where the salary topic has been discussed. It will serve you as a good starting point.

no

It can be on a 13 month basis. Mine is but it doesn't have to be so you need to check

hmm, so if it might not be 13 months, is it common to have year end bonus? and would anyone know where i can find information regarding taxes? like for example if anything below 60K has 35% tax and above 60K has 40% then i would rather cap it to 60K. Does it work like this in Germany?

The link provided in this post gives you a tax calculator where you give your gross salary and some other information and it tells you what your net salary is and how much taxes are you paying. To understand other items such as health insurance, pensions, solidarity tax, church tax and related feel free to do a search on taxes and you shall find a great deal of information.

There is no place on earth where you would take home less by earning more. You will pay a higher tax rate if you earn over 60K, but only on the money over 60K. In Germany there is a sliding scale with lots of increments, so the more you earn the more you pay, but you should take as much money as you can.

hey guys, thanks for all the tips and info :-)

An automatic bonus at the end of the year (or whenever) as seems to be the case with my colleagues in USA is not common in Germany.

Some types of job (sales, higher management) will have fixed & variable compomponents to the salary which might appear to be a bonus when things run well.

Hello everybody,

I have to negociate my salary in a job interview in Germany next week and it would be really helpful if anyone could give me any advice about the salary range for this kind of job and my level of experience:

The company is located in Düsseldorf (Which I believe is a quite expensive town, isn´t it?), and the post is Account manager. I have got a University Degree and 3/4 years of relevant experience.

Thank you all in advance!

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I would say an accounts manager would earn about 40kEuros.

Hello,

does anybody know what the value on German Labor Market of a System Admin with arround 9 years experience in IT field(having MCSE certification)--Windows Servers experience?

Thanks.

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hmmm...I guess I did good with EUR85k + company car + 20% bonus opportunity. European IT Manager based in Hamburg.

Is a "Krankenpfleger" the same as a "Registered Nurse" in the U.S.?
What would be the salary range for an Registered Nurse in Germany (2 years exp/M.S.)?
And if to be really particular - in Kiel!?!?!

Also, does Germany have a "Nurse Practictioner" career field? It's 2 levels under a Doctor, they can give meds, run a clinic, dianose illnesses, etc.
Salary?

Thank you all so much! I want to move my family back to Germany after 10 years there in the Army, but this time stay there!!!

Like Stanley, I am interested in the relative salaries for nurses, especially around Munich. I examined one of the links given earlier, and found that the salary is significantly lower than the minimum average salary for an RN in the US (for more hours worked!)
Stanley: see http://www.worldsalaries.org/professionalnurse.shtml

Anyone here have some personal experience?
Thanks.

hmmmmm...45k Euros brutto per year, 2-member family--does it sound enough for Heidelberg?
i am trying to figure which is the cost of living there, but i am getting more and more confused: all real-estate sites(for renting) are in german and so on...

What else did you expect ?

I am trying to figure out which one is the right level of taxes(including social contributions, pension, etcetera) for a brutto salary of 47000Euro per year(for a 2 members family).
I tried this link: http://www.parmentier.de/steuer/steuer.htm?wagetax.htm or this one:http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,223811,00.html and i foud that i gonna get netto 66% of the above mention sum(ALL taxes==34%)
Buuuuut, my future employer is saying that all taxes should be no more than 30%.
Who is right?
Any ideas?

10x

I just got offered 61,000 euro for the Baumholder area. Is this a salary that is adequate for my wife and I. Also My wife got an offer for 42,000 euro. Are the salary combined with the tax is applied?

Where can I find out the information as the amount of tax that would be applied to the salaries offered? Thank You for any information.

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Actually I have no idea where the "Baumholder" area is supposed to be in Germany. Got any ZIP-code? As for the salary being adequate or not, I am missing a benchmark here to compare it with. for instance what you are earning now in the US, what you expect in lifestyle to be continued etc. Many people I know would say that a total of 100k EUr gross income (assuming that you are talking gross and not net numbers here) is guaranteeing you a great lifestyle whereas others would say that they can not live on so little a money - just depending on lifestyle and expectations. As for taxes: there are a number of websites I know, but mostly in German. Probably some other TTners can help you there with a link. But if you just assume some 40% deductions from gross you should be on the right track there, mate. So, give us more bones to chew on and the answers will be better in quality and details

Cheerio