Der neue IAB-Lohnmonitor beleuchtet die aktuelle Lohnentwicklung in Deutschland
Abstract
"Wage development is a central variable for characterizing the conditions on the labour market. An observation instrument for wage development is being developed at the IAB: the IAB Wage Monitor. It is based on the OPAL survey. OPAL is a high-frequency, web-based survey conducted by the IAB, focusing on labor market-related topics. It surveys quarterly approximately 7,500 people of working age (18–65 years), asking varying questions on current topics. Wages can be analyzed by characteristics such as age, gender, education, and employment status, as well as by quantiles. Based on this survey, timely statements about the development of wage inequality can be made. One advantage of the OPAL data compared to, for example, the Income Survey (Verdiensterhebung) is that it also includes household context. This allows for comparisons of incomes in households with and without children. Another advantage compared to administrative data (such as the SIAB data from the IAB) is that wages are not censored at the social security contribution threshold, and working hours are also collected. This report presents the data basis, the preparation steps and report first results from the wage monitoring system. For example, the average hourly wage was €23.54 in the fourth quarter of 2023. By the second quarter of 2025, it had risen to €25.61. Wage disparities decreased during this period. A comparison of the wages of men and women shows that: On average of the past four quarters of 2025, women earned on average 15.3 percent less than men. The average wage of newly hired employees tends to fluctuate more than that of long-term employees. This was particularly evident in the first quarters of 2024 and 2025: Wages in existing employment relationships increased by only 6.7 percent in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same quarter of the previous year, while wages in new employment relationships increased by 21.5 percent. In the second quarter, the relation was 6.2 percent to 7.5 percent. The current IAB wage monitor will be published several times a year in the future." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
Cite article
Gartner, H., Resch, B. & Weber, E. (2025): Der neue IAB-Lohnmonitor beleuchtet die aktuelle Lohnentwicklung in Deutschland. (IAB-Forschungsbericht 21/2025), Nürnberg, 22 p. DOI:10.48720/IAB.FB.2521