Press release
Apprenticeships 2024: Where are the highest entry level salaries?

• A salary over 45,000 euros is achievable in the first three years after graduation
• Most high entry level salaries occur in technical professions and as computer scientists
• Commercial occupations are lucrative with social security clerks and bank clerks among the top 10 earners

DUESSELDORF, August 29, 2024 — Getting a head start in your career doesn't always have to begin with an academic degree: many apprenticeships promise an attractive salary in the first three years after graduation.

With average salaries of 45,000 euros, starting a career is particularly lucrative for aspiring chemical technicians. However, social insurance clerks, electronics technicians and mechatronics technicians also receive a gross median salary of over 40,000 euros in the first three years after training.

For comparison: according to the Stepstone Salary Report 2024, the gross median salary in Germany is currently 43,750 euros. Despite many high salaries: companies are desperately looking for applicants for the start of apprenticeship year in 2024.

According to the German Federal Employment Agency, a third of apprenticeships on offer remained unfulfilled last year. At the end of July 2024, more than 200,000 apprenticeships were still available. This is also shown by the amount of apprentice vacancies on the job portal Stepstone.de, which remain at last year’s high levels. Compared to the first half of 2022, in the same period of 2024 there now are even 28 percent more apprenticeships to be found on Stepstone.de.


"Apprenticeship programs secure our skilled workers of tomorrow. Whether in the technical, manual or commercial sector: the demand is immense. Young people should see their qualification as a great opportunity: Those who position themselves well today will have plenty and, above all, secure career prospects in the future," says Dr. Tobias Zimmermann, employment market expert at The Stepstone Group. "Conditions on the labor market will not get any easier in the future. An investment in the basic conditions of apprenticeship is an investment in the future-readiness of every company and of Germany as a centre of business and industry."


Companies currently have the opportunity to set themselves apart in a positive way: ‘Only with attractive conditions that, in addition to remuneration, also integrate a culture of appreciation and individual support, will enough young talent opt for an apprenticeship in the future. They often start their professional lives highly motivated – and can increasingly afford to be selective,’ emphasises Tobias Zimmermann.


The 10 apprentice occupations with the highest starting salary:

• Chemical technician: 45,750 euros gross median salary
• Social insurance clerk: 43,500 euros gross median salary
• Electronics technician for automation technology: 42,750 euros gross median salary
• Aircraft mechanic: 41,750 euros gross median salary
• Industrial mechanic: 41,000 euros gross median salary
• Mechatronics technician: 40,250 euros gross median salary
• Electronics technician for industrial engineering: 40,250 euros gross median salary
• Tool mechanic: 40,250 euros gross median salary
• IT specialist: 39,500 euros gross median salary
• Bank clerks: 39,250 euros gross median salary
   

10 popular** apprenticeships and their starting salary:

• Electronics technician: 39,250 euros gross median salary
• Industrial clerks: 35,000 euros gross median salary
• Plumbing and heating installer: 34,750 euros gross median salary
• Automotive mechatronics technician: 32,750 euros gross median salary
• Salesperson: 32,500 euros gross median salary
• Office management assistants: 32,250 euros gross median salary
• Wholesale and foreign trade management clerks: 31,750 euros gross median salary
• Warehouse logistics specialist: 31,750 euros gross median salary
• Dental assistant: 30,750 euros gross median salary
• Retail clerks: 29,750 gross median salary
   

For the salary figures, career starters up to and including 27 years of age without management responsibility and with less than 3 years of professional experience were considered. The values are rounded to 250 euro increments for better readability.

** Selection of apprenticeship occupations with more than 9,000 apprentice contracts concluded in 2023 according to the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training



The Stepstone salary figures
All salary figures are in euros and show the median, unless otherwise stated. All salary figures refer to the gross annual salary including bonuses, commissions, premiums, etc. The data is based on the Stepstone Salary Planner. For the analysis, a total of over 1 million salaries of full-time employees were analyzed, which were collected in the period from January 2022 to July 2024. The data was weighted according to official employment statistics and is representative of the working population in terms of the distribution of the characteristics of age, gender, university degree, economic sector and federal state of employment.

What is the median salary? And how does it differ from the average salary? The average is calculated by adding up all the values and then dividing by the number of data records. The average value can be influenced by extremely high or low values. A comparison with the median therefore helps to better classify the average value. The median is the value that lies exactly in the middle of all values. This means that there are exactly the same number of salaries that are lower and higher than the median salary

About the Stepstone Salary Planner
In addition to the annual Stepstone Salary Report, the online job platform Stepstone offers other salary-related services. These include the Stepstone Salary Planner, for which job experts and market researchers have developed an algorithm that provides a very accurate forecast of personal salary levels based on the most important salary drivers (e.g. industry, job, experience). Further information can be found at: www.stepstone.de/gehaltsplaner  

About The Stepstone Group 
The Stepstone Group is a leading global digital recruitment platform that connects companies with the right talent and helps people find the right job. AI-driven job marketplaces and programmatic-powered marketing solutions connect more than 130 million job applications with around 140,000 employers every year. In 2023, The Stepstone Group generated revenue of around €1 billion. The Stepstone Group operates in more than 30 countries - including Stepstone in Germany, Appcast in the USA and Totaljobs in the UK. The company is headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany and employs around 4,000 people worldwide. For more information: www.thestepstonegroup.com/en/


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