Overview
- An Allright analysis of Indeed postings finds 16.91% of job ads in Germany promise a Christmas bonus or 13th salary, with higher shares in Saarland (21.59%) and lower shares in city-states such as Hamburg (11.96%), Berlin (13.00%) and Bremen (15.85%).
- City-level gaps are pronounced, led by Hanau at 23.7% of ads mentioning the perk, while Frankfurt sits at the bottom among major cities with 10.85%.
- Sector differences are sharp: childcare roles advertise bonuses most frequently (36.76%), followed by retail (32.8%) and production (30.65%), compared with very low rates in sports (2.39%) and arts and culture (3.84%).
- There is no legal entitlement to Christmas bonus in Germany; unions note roughly 77% of employees in tariff-bound firms receive it versus about 41% in non-tariff workplaces, with typical M+E agreements paying 25–55% of a monthly wage and an average 2024 payout of about €2,987 gross.
- BMW has signaled a temporary reduction of the payout to 85% of the individual entitlement for 2025 and 2026, with a return to full payment planned for 2027.