Apprenticeship pay: what trainees in Germany are entitled to

For trainees who started training in 2020, there is a statutory minimum training allowance that increases annually (Section 17 of the Vocational Training Act). How high this is depends on the year in which the training began. The minimum training allowance will be in 2024:

• in the 1st year of training: 649 euros gross
• in the 2nd year of training: 766 euros gross
• in the 3rd year of training: 876 euros gross
• in the 4th year of training: 909 euros gross.

The minimum training allowance may not be undercut under any circumstances. This is exclusively the remuneration for the agreed regular working hours (including vocational school lessons). If employment exceeds this time, it must be remunerated accordingly or compensated by granting corresponding time off.

Furthermore, the training allowance - regardless of whether it is the minimum allowance or not - must increase annually: Based on the first year of apprenticeship, the remuneration increases by 18 % in the second year, by 35 % in the third and by 40% in the fourth.

Your training company can offset part of your training allowance as benefits in kind (e.g. rent or meals). However, you must be paid at least 25 % of your remuneration (after deduction of social security contributions and any taxes).

An employment contract is concluded between an individual employee and the company. A collective agreement is negotiated by associations. These associations represent the interests of employees (trade unions) and companies (employers' association).

If the training company is bound by a collective agreement, the level of training pay stipulated in the collective agreement applies. The training contract may not stipulate a lower training salary than the collectively agreed rates. An upward deviation is possible.

If a company is not bound by a collective agreement, but there is a collective agreement for the respective industry, the trainee may be paid a maximum of 20 % less than is customary in the industry, as long as the minimum training allowance is not undercut.

As soon as a company is not bound by a collective agreement and no sectoral collective agreement exists, the only rule is that the minimum training allowance may not be undercut.

The training allowance is always stated gross. Your training company deducts social security contributions and possibly also taxes from your gross training allowance, which it transfers to the relevant authorities (tax office and insurance company). You will then receive the remaining amount (the net training allowance).

You are liable to pay tax as soon as you exceed the basic tax-free allowance. This amounts to 11,604 euros in 2024. The basic tax-free allowance refers to the taxable income, i.e. the annual gross income less social security contributions and the employee lump sum (flat-rate allowance for income-related expenses). However, it should be noted that if the basic tax-free allowance is exceeded, tax does not have to be paid on the entire income, but only on the income that exceeds the basic tax-free allowance. The amount of income tax depends on your income tax class.

If you are liable to pay income tax and belong to the church, you must pay church tax. The church tax is 8 - 9 % of the wage tax.

The flat-rate income-related expense allowance for 2024 is EUR 1,230. This sum is offset against your taxable income as a lump sum. You therefore do not have to provide any proof of this. However, if you have spent more than the lump sum, you can claim this in your tax return (proof is required for this). Income-related expenses are expenses that you incur for your education. These are, for example, travel costs, textbooks or job applications.

Social security contributions include contributions for pension, health, long-term care and unemployment insurance. These must be paid by every trainee who receives a gross training allowance of at least 325 euros. Due to the minimum training allowance that has been introduced, every trainee in full-time employment pays social security contributions. These contributions are also calculated as a percentage of your gross salary. The amount is made up as follows:

• Pension insurance with the general pension insurance scheme: 18.6 %
• General statutory health insurance: 14.6 %
• Long-term care insurance: 3.4 %
• Unemployment insurance: 2.6 %

Half of the contributions are generally paid by your employer, the other half by you. An exception is health insurance, where you have to pay a personal contribution (on average 1.7 % of your gross salary) in addition to your share.

Furthermore, the proportion of contributions to be paid into long-term care insurance varies: for example, those insured without children who have reached the age of 23 pay a contribution surcharge of 0.6 %, which they must bear alone. In Saxony, the employee pays a higher share than the employer.

The remuneration is payable monthly and - unlike regular employment relationships - must be received by you on the last working day of the current month at the latest.

If you do not start your training on the first of the month, your salary must be paid pro rata. You are entitled to 1/30 of your monthly salary for each day. This also applies if you do not complete your training at the end of the month.

The continued payment of the training allowance is regulated in § 19 BBiG. According to this, your training company must also pay you the training allowance if:

• You are on vacation.
• you are ill (the period of continued payment of wages is six weeks, after which you will receive sickness benefit from the health insurance fund).
• the training takes place outside your usual training center.
• you have to be released from work to attend vocational school or take examinations.
• you cannot be trained through no fault of your own, even though you are willing to do so (e.g. if your employer sends you home because there is no work for you).

There is no statutory regulation for this. Special payments (e.g. Christmas bonus, vacation pay or capital-forming benefits) are voluntary benefits provided by the employer. An agreement for special payments may be regulated in your training contract, a company agreement or a collective agreement. These payments count as gross training pay and are therefore not tax-free.

If you complete your training part-time, a pro rata training allowance may be paid. This is usually reduced in line with the weekly working hours. If you receive a monthly training allowance of no more than 325 euros gross, your training company will pay the social security contributions alone.

In principle, you will not receive a training allowance during school-based training, but you may be entitled to BAföG or vocational training allowance (BAB).