PRESS RELEASE Survey shows: Collective bargaining agreements lead to higher pay and shorter working hours in the ICT sector

Frankfurt am Main – ICT employees with collective bargaining agreements earn, on average, 14.3 percent more than their colleagues without such agreements. The annual survey of wages in the ICT sector conducted by IG Metall revealed average income growth of 5.6 percent across all sectors as of the end of 2023.

The ICT pay analysis also tracks the average weekly work hours: Over 75 percent of employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement work 37.5 hours or fewer. Without a collective bargaining agreement, a 40-hour workweek is the norm for nearly all employees (97 percent). Despite the shorter workweek, employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement earn a higher annual salary.

“The survey results confirm that employees at companies bound by collective bargaining agreements are better paid. Given the shortage of skilled workers in IT professions, IT professionals will base their job and career decisions even more heavily on whether their employer is bound by a collective bargaining agreement,” explains Christiane Benner, First Chair of IG Metall. “Our report increases transparency for employees regarding earnings in the IT sector.”

The positive effect of collective bargaining agreements is particularly evident among software engineers. For example, as a senior software specialist, the average income of employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement is over 21%—or €15,000—higher than that of employees not covered by such an agreement.

Further information:
The ITC Pay Analysis 23/24 collected over 40,000 pay data points from 108 companies.
The results of the survey are available online at itk-entgeltanalyse.igmetall.de.