Overview
- Full-time employees in the new federal states earn about €13,400 less per year than in the West, nearly a 21% gap, the DGB reports.
- The union proposes a Bundestariftreuegesetz that would award public contracts only to companies paying wages set by collective agreements.
- Collective-bargaining coverage stands at 42% in the East versus 50% in the West, and tariff agreements add several hundred euros monthly in states like Saxony-Anhalt (+€718) and Thuringia (+€740).
- WSI data show average monthly pay of €4,810 in the West and €3,973 in the East, roughly a 17% difference, with the gap shrinking by about 7 percentage points since 2014 after the minimum wage was introduced.
- Experts expect the already decided rise in the minimum wage to €14.60 by January 2027 to further narrow differences, though regional wages still range widely from Hamburg (€26.88/hour) to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (€20.33).