The wages for trained florists are among the lowest among skilled occupations.
(Photo: Imago)
Berlin Learn a decent job, then you can earn decent money and be secure. Many young people will probably hear this advice from their parents. But is it also true?
That depends heavily on the chosen profession, as a new study by the Institute for Labor Market and Occupational Research (IAB) shows. Because for some specialists it would be more lucrative to switch to a helper job in another area than to stay in the profession they have learned.
This applies, for example, to qualified employees in the areas of body care, which includes hairdressing, floristry, agriculture and forestry or gastronomy. For example, trained florists earn an average of 1831 euros gross per month. In gastronomy, the median for skilled workers is 1849 euros, which means that half of the employees in the industry earn less, the other half more.
These earning opportunities are clearly topped by numerous helper activities. Employees in precision engineering and tool technology or nursing receive an average of more than 2,700 euros a month, even without special qualifications.
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Many well-paid helper jobs can be found in industry, where the pay is generally better than in many service occupations. The best-paid helper jobs are in the supply and disposal sector, the chemical industry or mining and opencast mining, where the average wage is between around 3100 and a good 3616 euros. The authors also attribute this to the fact that collective bargaining coverage is high in the sectors concerned.
There is an upward outlier with more than 4000 euros for helper activities in the social sciences. However, these are only around 2,000 employees who work as interviewers in market and opinion research.
Across all sectors of the economy, the median salary for skilled workers in a full-time job is 3166 euros per month and for helper jobs 2357 euros. A trained bookseller or a doctor and practice assistant with several years of training are only slightly lower at 2341 euros and 2355 euros respectively.
According to the IAB evaluation, 15 percent of the nearly 34 million employees in Germany who are subject to social security contributions only work as a helper or as a trainee. Of these, however, two thirds have completed vocational training or a higher professional education. They are therefore employed below their qualifications.
Between 2015 and 2020, the number of employees in helper positions rose above average to more than five million. In 2020, three out of four full-time employees who are subject to social security contributions in unskilled jobs earned a maximum of EUR 3,000 gross per month. Around 44 percent of the skilled workers were still in this earnings category. A good one in four full-time skilled workers earned less than 2,500 euros a month and was thus within the typical salary range for helper activities.
In certain cases, the change from a skilled job in the learned profession to another job at assistant level can lead to higher wages, the IAB researchers balance. But only for 15 percent of the employees who had changed, the average wage in the helper activity is higher than the average for staying in the skilled profession.
The study goes on to say that the low level of wages for skilled workers in individual areas could lead to career changes and exacerbate the shortage of skilled workers in the affected sectors. “This is the case, for example, in the hospitality industry and has been exacerbated by the corona pandemic.”
More: Winners and losers of the pandemic: This is where the missing workers are now employed