00:00A question I get a lot is how much do people earn in Germany? Is it a law? Are
00:06they all rich? Oh yeah! Who knows maybe. Fact is that Germans don't like to talk
00:16about money. Hey bro how's your job going? How much are you making now? Enough!
00:24But that's why I am here. I'm going to tell you everything you need to know
00:29about salaries in Germany.
00:35Many people decide to move to Germany because the average salary here is often
00:40much higher than in their own country. And if you compare it to any African, Asian or
00:46even Eastern European country, that's certainly true. According to the federal
00:51statistical office of Germany, the average gross salary was 3880 euro per month.
00:58That's the all-over average of the country. But that doesn't say too much.
01:04Because this figure varies greatly depending on the industry you're working
01:08in, your age, work experience and even geographical location. It's important to
01:15mention that the people living in the south and west of the country earn up to
01:1930% more than their counterparts in the Northeast. So if you had a job in
01:24Frankfurt that paid 3000 euro a month, that very same job might only make you 2000
01:30euro in Berlin. Let's start at the lower end of the
01:34work chain. If you have less than 1000 euro a month to live off, you are considered poor.
01:41That is the official poverty line here in the country.
01:44We have also a minimum wage, which is 9 euro and 36 cents.
01:49There are a few exceptions to that. But most of the time paying less than that
01:55is very much illegal. So with most unskilled labor jobs,
01:59you will earn that amount. That's everything from working in a bar,
02:03cleaning staff, being a cashier at a store and so on.
02:08Of course you could earn more doing those jobs, but that really depends on the company.
02:13If you would work full time on minimum wage, which is 40 hours per week, you would have an income
02:20of
02:20about 1500 euro a month. One and a half K doesn't sound that bad, but that's not the amount you'll
02:27get,
02:28because the government will still take off their tax cut and social insurance fees,
02:34even before it ever gets to your bank account. There's online calculators where you can see exactly
02:39how much will be taken off of your salary. And I'll get into more details about that a little
02:46bit later in the video. Okay, now let's say you just graduated from university with your master's
02:53degree and you're looking for a job. What's the amount you can expect in the first few years?
02:58In 2018, the average income in the very first year right after university was 3,700 euro a month.
03:08That amount of course also varies a lot depending on the industry you're working in,
03:13with the highest paying ones being in business development, chemistry, engineering and medicine.
03:19And some of the lowest paying ones being in architecture, graphic design, logistics and translating.
03:27What's also important to say is that in Germany having a bachelor's degree doesn't really count
03:34like a full degree. If you want to have a proper position, you'll have to get a master.
03:39Ain't nobody got time for that? What about all those other jobs? Okay, let's do a quick shot.
03:46How much is earning a banker? 5,700 euro a month. Construction worker, 1,800 euro.
03:56Your local doctor, 7,000 euro. The chancellor, 28,000 euro a month. A lawyer, 5,000 euro.
04:07Bus driver, 2,500 euro. The boss of Volkswagen, 800,000 euro a month. Kindergarten teacher,
04:182,700 euro. Normal teacher, 4,500 euro. Not working at all. 1,000 euro.
04:29Hartz 4 und der Tag gehört dir. Accountant, 3,300 euro. Office clerk, 2,200 euro.
04:39Your local döner man. He will never tell you. Some of those numbers seem pretty high.
04:46But let's see how much there will be left after insurance fees and taxes. So let's put in here our
04:53minimum wage gross salary. Then we can see here how much is left at the end. Everybody who's employed
05:00has to pay those social charges. You have to pay pension insurance even if you don't want to.
05:06And it's the same with unemployment insurance, health insurance and care insurance. You can't
05:13option out of them. They don't have a certain amount you have to pay. They are fixed percentages
05:19of the gross salary you're earning. And then there's of course the taxes. How much salary tax
05:25you're paying really depends on how much you earn. The more you earn, the higher the percentage will
05:32get that you have to pay. So when you get minimum wage, you almost pay no tax. If we put
05:38in here
05:395000 euro we see that this amount has gotten much higher in relation to the gross salary. The income
05:46tax will max out at 45%. The only thing you can option out is the charge tax. You only have
05:54to pay
05:54it if you are a member of a church. So if you're earning 5k a month your net salary would
06:01be 2900 euro.
06:03Great. There's only two things certain in life. Death and taxes. And you better not try to cheat
06:13the system because the punishment for evading taxes is much greater than for rape and murder.
06:20That's ridiculous. Okay, now that we got that out of the way, what you also need to know is that
06:28in
06:28Germany you have the right to take paid vacation days. The minimum amount per year you get is 20
06:35days. Although many big companies even give more than that. Usually up to 30. I hope no Japanese are
06:42watching this. They only get 10 days a year. Many companies give also a Christmas bonus which can be
06:52as much as a full month's salary. So don't forget to ask about that on your next interview. If you
06:59consider working in Germany, there's only one thing left to do. To smash that like button. And also to
07:06apply for that working holiday visa. Just to try it out. See you next time.
