What is the proportion of employees whose job is regulated by a collective agreement?
Collective agreements govern pay, working hours and other working conditions. They may be negotiated for companies or economic branches. For persons employed in establishments with a collective agreement, minimum standards apply, although branch-specific collective agreements involve manifold opening clauses.
Collective bargaining coverage markedly higher in the West
In 2023, 49% of the employees in Germany hat a job regulated by a branch-specific collective agreement. However, there are differences between the old and new Länder. For 44% of the employees in the old Länder, their job was regulated by a branch-specific collective agreement in 2023. Company agreements applied to 7% of the employees.
In the new Länder, the collective bargaining coverage was considerably lower. Branch-specific collective agreements applied to 31% of the employees there. 14% worked in enterprises with company agreements. 49% of the employees in the old Länder and 56% of the employees in the new Länder worked in companies without any collective agreements.
Collective agreements decreasing
The development of collective agreements shows a downward trend in both the new and the old Länder. In 1998, 76% of the employees in the former territory of the Federal Republic of Germany were covered by a collective agreement. Since then the coverage decreased by 25 percentage points until the year 2023 (51%). In the new Länder the decrease was slightly smaller showing 19 percentage points decrease since 1998 (63%).
Coverage differs greatly between branches
Collective bargaining coverage differs widely between branches, while the importance for the individual branches has changed little from year to year. For years, collective bargaining coverage has been well above average (98%) in public administration with traditionally high trade union membership levels and also in mining (61%) and financial and insurance activities (72%). Collective bargaining coverage plays a minor role especially in information and communication sector (11%).
Share of employees covered by collective agreements increases with company size
An important role plays the size of the company. In small companies with 10 to 20 employees the coverage rate is maximum at 31%. The share increases parallel to the company size. In companies with more than 200 employees, the rate is highest at 62%.
| Companies with … to … employees | Share of employees with branch-specific or collective agreement |
|---|---|
| Source: Panel of Establishments (IAB) (2022). | |
| 1 to 4 employees | 14 |
| 5 to 9 employees | 20 |
| 10 to 20 employees | 31 |
| 21 to 50 employees | 32 |
| 51 to 100 employees | 36 |
| 101 to 200 employees | 40 |
| 201 and more employees | 62 |
| Total | 42 |
Information on the Indicator
Description or definition
Percentage of employees whose company is regulated by a collective agreement or who have own collective agreements in all employees.
Source
Institute for Employment Research (IAB) - Panel of Establishments
Information for interpretation
For methodological information on the IAB Panel of Establishment please refer to the website of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB).