Collective bargaining agreements are not important in many sectors. Compared with Europe, Germany overall lags behind in collective bargaining coverage – and falls short of the European Parliament’s target.
In Germany, less than half of all employees work in companies bound by collective agreements. The national average was 49% last year, the Federal Statistical Office announced today. However, there are huge differences across sectors.
High administrative quota
The areas of public administration, defense and social insurance have the highest coverage of collective bargaining at 100%. This is followed by the energy supply, education and training, and financial and insurance services sectors.
On the other hand, hotels, arts, entertainment and leisure, and agriculture and forestry have lower rates. In the trade sector, some 42 percent of industry employees worked for collective bargaining firms last year.
| economic sector | % Collective Bargaining Coverage by 2022 |
|---|---|
|
Agriculture, forestry and fishery |
11 |
|
the hospitality |
20 |
|
Arts, Entertainment and Leisure |
twenty one |
|
real estate and housing |
twenty two |
|
Professional and technical services |
25 |
|
information, communication |
26 |
|
Trade; maintenance and repair of motor vehicles |
29 |
|
other service |
42 |
|
transport and storage |
44 |
|
construction industry |
46 |
|
manufacturing |
51 |
|
Health and Social Care |
52 |
|
other economic services |
59 |
|
mining, quarrying and quarrying |
62 |
|
Water supply; Disposal and cleanup of environmental pollution |
62 |
|
Financial and Insurance Services |
75 |
|
education |
82 |
|
power supply |
85 |
|
Public administration, national defense; social insurance |
100 |
difference between east and west
“As far as the collective agreements of these companies are concerned, there are clear differences between East and West Germany,” explains the statistician. In eastern Germany, collective bargaining coverage was only 32 percent, while in the west it was 43 percent.
The federal states with the lowest collective bargaining agreements are Berlin and Saxony. Thuringia followed suit. On the other hand, Bremen and Saarland have the highest collective bargaining coverage of the federal states at more than 50%.
A total of 58,000 companies of all sizes were asked whether branch or company collective agreements applied to them. A company that applies a collective agreement only voluntarily is not a company bound by the collective agreement. However, their employees receive wages and working conditions similar to those set out in collective agreements.
France and Italy with high collective bargaining coverage
To date, the Federal Statistical Office has collected collective bargaining data only every four years. Starting this year, the indicator will be determined annually based on the results of the earnings survey, the agency said. Due to a change in methodology, this year’s data can only be compared with the last one in 2018 to a limited extent.
In 2018, collective bargaining coverage in Germany was 48%. In the European comparison, it ranks 18th in the EU. As a result, Germany is far from the 80% collective bargaining coverage target set by the European Parliament.
On the other hand, France, Ireland, Italy and Slovenia all achieved 100% collective bargaining coverage. Finland, Austria, Romania and Greece also had high values. In contrast, Estonia and Hungary have the lowest rates of collective bargaining coverage, at 8% and 18%, respectively. The latest figures from Eurostat were not available.