Holiday allowance: Only every second worker receives holiday allowance

There is a holiday wage gap in Germany. Men receive the subsidy according to a study more often than women. In the east, the money is paid less frequently than in the West.

Holiday allowance: Only every second worker receives holiday allowance

Holiday costs a lot of money, almost always. But only one in two employees in Germany gets vacation money. Companies with collective agreements pay twice as often a subsidy as companies without a collective agreement. This is result of a study by union-based Hans Böckler Foundation. According to this, 71 percent of employees with a collective bargaining agreement get vacation money, and those without tariffs are only 38 percent. For study, Foundation's Economic and Social Science Institute (WSI) evaluated information from 28,000 employees between January 2017 and February 2018.

Wher money is paid depends, among or things, on gender and size of company. On average, men with 54 percent are more likely to expect a vacation allowance than women (41 percent). Workers in east (36 percent) are worse off than colleagues in west with 52 percent. Similarly, it looks between small businesses (38 percent) and larger companies, where 65 percent receive additional payment.

The amount of holiday allowance varies greatly by sector – between 156 euros in coal industry and more than 2,300 euros in wood and plastics processing industries in west. The money is often paid with MAI salary, but re is no general time. In public sector, Christmas money and holiday money are combined into one yearly payment.

Differences Between industries

There is no legal entitlement to grant for holiday fund. The special payments may be paid voluntarily by employer or be agreed on a tariff basis. If employer pays regularly, a claim may arise from habit.

According to survey, re are also major differences between sectors. On average, industrial workers have better opportunities to benefit from benefits than employees in service professions. According to WSI evaluation in health and social sector, only one quarter of employees receive grant, in hospitality industry it is 34 percent. In industry, however, almost two-thirds of employees receive repercussions for summer time. In areas of energy supply, trade and transport and storage, half of employees also receive holiday allowances.

In 11 out of 22 sectors, growth was achieved last year – for example in construction industry with a negotiated surcharge of 30 percent for industrial workers in west. Generally, however, increases were within scope of general wage agreements, because payment is expressed in a percentage of fare salary and thus automatically increases.

Date Of Update: 11 June 2018, 12:02