PRESS RELEASE IG Metall: Collective bargaining means more pay and fewer hours in the IT sector

Frankfurt am Main – IG Metall’s latest pay analysis for the information and communications technology sector shows that collective bargaining agreements also have a positive impact on working conditions in these industries. In 2022, employees covered by collective bargaining agreements across all occupations earned nearly 15% higher wages than those in companies without such agreements. Across all sectors, average wage increases amounted to 4.1%.

This can be a decisive factor in choosing a job, particularly for highly sought-after IT professionals. Christiane Benner, Second Chair of IG Metall, emphasizes: “Our report increases transparency for employees regarding earnings in the IT sector. Given the shortage of skilled workers in computer science professions, IT professionals will base their job and career decisions even more heavily on whether their employer is bound by a collective bargaining agreement.”

Shorter working hours thanks to collective bargaining agreements—even in IT

In addition to pay, the ICT compensation analysis also tracks the average weekly working hours. Over 75% of employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement work 37.5 hours per week or fewer.
The difference compared to employees without a collective bargaining agreement is particularly striking here. Only 5% work 37.5 hours per week, while 91% work 40 hours per week.
Importantly, the longer workweek does not translate into higher pay. Despite working fewer hours, employees covered by collective bargaining agreements earn a higher annual salary.

A particularly good example of the positive effect of collective bargaining coverage is the group (referred to as “job family” in the survey) of software engineers. As senior software specialists, the average income of employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement is over 17% higher—or €12,205 more—than that of employees without a collective bargaining agreement.

IG Metall makes the data available online in the form of comparable groups, thereby giving all employees and interested parties the opportunity to compare their compensation.

Further information:

The results of the survey can be accessed online at itk-entgeltanalyse.igmetall.de.

For the survey, over 42,000 compensation records were collected from 123 companies, with a cutoff date of December 31, 2022.

The survey is conducted annually and published in the spring.

Additional information and press photos of Christiane Benner