Wage gaps: Almost five million people earn below 2,750 euros

Every fifth full -time employee earns less than 2,750 euros gross per month in Germany. That was around 4.6 million people recently, as a Federal Government’s response to the German press agency showed to the left-wing MP Dietmar Bartsch. 40 percent or 9.2 million are less than 3,500 euros.

From Bartsch’s perspective, this makes it clear: “Germany is not a high -wage country, but has a million times wage problem.” In the case of sometimes horrendous rental costs and increased prices for food and energy, it is a challenge for millions of people to manage the mandatory costs of everyday life.

From the point of view of industry, Germany is sometimes referred to as a “high -wage country”. For a working hour, companies paid an average of 43.40 euros in gross earnings and non -wage costs last year.

What pensions can those affected adapt to?

According to Bartsch, wages in the lower segment have hard consequences for those affected. “It is a political and social insolence that exactly those will be the poverty pensioners of tomorrow,” he said.

The background is, according to the left, that a monthly gross wage of more than around 3,300 euros-around 20 euros per hour-is necessary to obtain a legal pension at the level of the poverty risk threshold. Other forms of old -age provision are not taken into account here.

According to the Federal Statistical Office, a person was finally considered to be at risk of poverty in Germany if it is less than 1,378 euros a month with its net income. 15.5 percent – around 13.1 million people – are at risk of poverty in Germany. According to the poverty report of the parity overall association, people in retirement are disproportionately affected by 19 percent.

Many pensions under threshold for the risk of poverty

“Wages below 3,500 euros are actually a guarantee of pensions at the level of poverty,” said Bartsch. In July, Bartsch had already queried how many people currently get less from the statutory pension fund than necessary for a pension above the risk of poverty. Accordingly – as of December 31, 2024 – more than every fourth with at least 45 years in pension insurance will receive less than 1,300 euros pension.

However, according to the latest retirement security report, the statutory pension only makes 53 percent of the gross income of the AB-65 year olds (2023). In addition, there are company pensions (7 percent), further earned income (13 percent), private provision (6 percent) as well as transfer payments and other (21 percent).

Regional income in Germany is distributed quite differently. In the East German countries, around 60 percent of full -time employees earn less than 3,500 euros a month. Among the countries, Baden-Württemberg has the least people in this lower wage group (33.6 percent). In the east it is even under 2,750 euros for almost everyone.

The least employed with a wage of less than 2,750 euros is in Hamburg (around 15 percent)-most in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (36 percent). There are more than everyone in all Eastern countries as well as in Schleswig-Holstein (24 percent), Lower Saxony (23 percent), in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland (21 percent each). Nationwide, 20.9 percent earn less than 2,750 and 41.6 percent less than 3,500 euros.

One percent earns more than 213,286 euros

At the moment, wage spread in Germany ranges from 20 percent of full -time employees who come to 77,000 euros or more per year, up to 10 percent with 32,500 euros or less. With the help of the Federal Statistical Office, you can classify yourself in it.

For example, if your own earnings are 42,000 euros, around 30 percent of full -time employees earn the same or less. With earnings of 66,000 euros, the 30 percent are one of the highest merits.

According to these recent figures, 1 percent of full -time employees earned more than 213,286 euros gross in 2024. Bartsch concludes from the wage structure: “Germany’s employees need a serious wage substance.”

Disappointed about minimum wages

Bartsch spoke of a “failure of the social market economy”. The black and red government accused the left-wing politician of not letting a minimum wage of 15 euros as the lowest wage limit. This is a shame for the wage level as a whole.

Bartsch thus alludes to the fact that the federal government does not want to determine the upcoming minimum lighter increase by law. The responsible minimum wage commission with top representatives of the unions and the employer had decided that the minimum wage in Germany will increase in two stages to 14.60 euros per hour on January 1, 2027, from today 12.82 to 13.90 euros. The government wants to implement the recommendation.