For employees, the situation is currently paradoxical: although salaries are rising, they have less money in their pockets. In 2022, for example, the Federal Statistical Office recorded the highest increase in nominal wages since the start of the time series in 2008. But because prices rose even more, the bottom line is a clear drop in real wages. Many employees are therefore likely to be pushing for salary increases again this year, especially since personnel are scarce and in demand in many sectors.
A salary comparison helps to assess your own market value. The Stepstone job portal evaluated the remuneration of around 560,000 full-time employees for its 2023 salary report. The data collected in 2021 and 2022 provide an overview of pay in various professions and sectors. But they also show regional differences and how big the salary gap is between the sexes.
According to Stepstone data, a full-time employee earns an average of EUR 43,800 gross per year, including any bonuses or commissions. This is the median salary, i.e. half of the employees examined earn more, the other half less. All of the following average figures also refer to this mean salary value.
The best-paid professional group is that of doctors: they earn an average of 93,800 euros a year, more than twice as much as the average person. Also in the top group of the job ranking are consultants (54,000 euros), engineers (52,800 euros) and IT experts (52,000 euros). Skilled trades are on average 40,000 euros gross per year, in health and social services (excluding doctors) it is 38,100 euros.
Some of these average values include very different specific occupations. The photo series therefore breaks down the salaries in a little more detail. It shows the salaries of five popular jobs within a professional group in comparison.
Apart from the profession, other factors influence the individual salary. An important factor is professional experience: According to the evaluation, newcomers with less than three years of professional experience earn an average of 36,000 euros gross. Employees who have been in the job for more than ten years are approaching the 50,000 euro mark. Managers earn around 20 percent more than employees without personnel responsibility. The figures also show that large companies tend to earn more than small ones.
The level of education also plays a major role: the academics analyzed earn an average of 58,600 euros, employees without a degree earn 41,500 euros. You always have to put your own income in relation to the salary level in the region in which you live. The employees surveyed in the western federal states of Hamburg, Baden-Württemberg and Hesse earn an average of around 48,000 euros. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt it was only 36,000 euros. Overall, the east-west divide in all federal states excluding Berlin is 15 percent on average.
And then there is the much-discussed gender pay gap: According to a Stepstone comparison, full-time women earn an average of around 13 percent less than full-time men. Part of this salary gap can be explained by factors such as career choice, industry, personnel responsibility and work experience. But even if you factor that all out, there’s still a gap of almost 7 percent, according to Stepstone.
