While other European countries make the transition to cashless societies, Germany still has a stubborn affection for a pocket full of loose change. Rachel Stewart investigates the very specific German attitude to money.
What’s a good salary In Germany?
A good salary in Germany is the one that will allow you to afford the lifestyle that you want. Anything above 47.700 euros a year (gross) will place you in Germany’s above-average range of income.
A good salary In Germany
We answer the question “what is a good salary in Germany?”. We tackle the average annual salaries based on different factors and provide an answer to the question: “Will my salary be enough?”
YouTube comments:
“This is a great video with a good breakdown! I moved from a big city and took a paycut on my previous gross salary, but I have been amazed how much I am provided for in Germany and never really felt broke despite technically having much lesser money than before. I think until you live here and really experience the economy and plan your finances, the numbers are just… numbers! End of the day I believe we should be fighting for fair salaries, and not higher ones just for the sake of it.”
“Whenever I read about 40% taxe rate, it makes me a bit frustrated. But looking from the other perspective, all of those high contributors I make are the reason why the life for people all ages so good and reliable in Germany, right? I would like to reveal those details and understand the real value of the contributions I would make :)”
“It’s however important to mention that living in Germany you have access to many amenities and infrastructure not available to you in other countries unless you hire someone yourself or you pay a net price for it.”
Salaries in Germany by profession
March 2020. Currently, the country has one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe, hovering around 3-4%. Having one of the most diversified economies in the world, Germany offers jobs in almost any sector.
Salaries in Germany are also quite high for global standards. The average net salary in Frankfurt is 2700 EUR per month. In Berlin, the average net wage is 2500 EUR per month.
Some economic sectors in Germany have a greater demand for foreign workers than others. Notably, health care and tech are among the sectors with the highest demand for foreigners.
Working hours. Holidays. And more.
A key issue for many workers is flexible working time in order to have a work-life balance. Negotiating a work/life balance can help enable parents (both men and women) to reconcile their work with their family lives and women in particular to participate in the labour market.
Finding the right work-life balance can allow workers to take leave from work so that they can participate in education or training or take up an interest, hobby or leisure pursuit. This may mean that employees can reorganise their working lives and hours around shorter days, weeks, months or years.
German families tend to be small with only one or two children. The men are still quite often considered to be the head of the household, even though both the wife and husband work.
Quitting my job was a big mistake
YouTube Comments:
“No matter how much I suffer after quitting my job, I will never suffer more than having worked from the job I quit.”
“I went from being an entrepreneur with 6 figure income to an employee. I can honestly say, being an employee is not that bad since i do get to “slack” at times and still get paid since I’m efficient at my work. Definitely not the same for self-owned business. I think a balance between the 2 is the sweet spot for me.”
“I own two successful businesses, and I recently went through the same exact thing. There are days where I wonder if I made the biggest mistake of my life not going to law school after I crushed the LSAT. But then I had a moment where I wanted to spend time with my new wife. We were exhausted, run down from our businesses, and… we made ourself relax in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday. We didn’t have to ask permission, we just did it. As I looked around that day at people with their heads down working, I realized what the sacrifices were really about. We look at things differently. We plan and look forward based on ambition, not quotas and box checking. We were, truly, masters of our own destiny. And most importantly, it felt like we were. You’ll feel like this again. And it will pass again in the wake of your successes. Just remember: nobody on this earth can threaten your livlihood if you don’t appease their corporate/company byline. If the unthinkable happens and you DID fail… you’ll just innovate, adapt, and overcome. You said it yourself in one of your videos, if you focus on your failures, you ignore the massive volume of wins you’ve ever had. It’s all a race for financial independence and peace. Godspeed, and I’ll see you at the finish line.”
Work in Germany. 5 Reasons.
Germany has some of the strictest labour laws in Europe. The country has gone to great lengths to try to ensure that workers rights are enshrined in law. This makes it a particularly attractive place to live and work in.
YouTube comments:
“Bildungsurlaub” / educational vacation is limited to 5 days per work-year, but you can combine the educational days of two years to a total of 10 days. In most cases you will have to book a surveyed course to profitize on this regulation. Sick leave with payment through your employer is limited to 7 weeks, after that you will receive “Krankengeld / sick-leave-payment” through your health-insurance which is only 70% of your salary.”
“There are laws for everything. I work for myself. Imagine you earn 200k in a year. More than 40% is going to the gouverment. You also have to pay more for health insurance if you earn more. Same thing with investments like rental objects. And 1000 other things. And now? Energy, food almost everything is getting more expensive. life was good a few years ago.”
Really different in Germany & USA
Vacation, taking sick days, maternity leave…work-life balance is really different in Germany & the USA.
So my question for you is: How do you feel about work-life balance? Is there anyone out there who prefers the way that it’s done in the U.S.? And people with children, what’s the parental leave been like where you’ve lived?
Do Germans really have work-life balance?
It’s common to hear that Germans are great at switching off once their working hours are done, but according to a new survey, this may not be entirely true.
The survey commissioned by Novotel surveyed around 5,000 adults across Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Poland to investigate their habits and working schedules. Surprisingly enough, it found that the Germans have the worst work-life balance of all four countries, with 58 percent work and only 42 percent leisure time.