Press release No. 174 of 8 April 2021
WIESBADEN – Based on national accounting results, gross wages and salaries per employee in Germany fell by 0.1% in nominal terms (not price adjusted) in 2020 compared with 2019. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that the development of earnings has been strongly affected by the corona crisis and the resulting massive increase in short-time work as well as the substantial decline in the number of marginally employed persons, which in 2020 led to a decrease in average gross wages and salaries for the first time since German unification. Compared to 2019, average earnings were markedly lower in air transport, travel agency and tour operator activities, accommodation and food services, and in trade. In the period from 2010 to 2020, gross wages and salaries per employee were up 28.5%; the annual average increase amounted to 2.5%.
