According to the German Federal Statistical Office, as of 2024, nearly half of all employed individuals in Germany, or 49 percent, were working in a company with a collective agreement in place, marking no significant change from previous years.
The collective agreement rate, which is the proportion of employees in a company with a collective agreement, showed significant differences across various industries. The highest collective agreement rate in 2024 was recorded in the “Public Administration, Defense, Social Security” sector, with a rate of 100 percent, followed by the “Energy Supply” sector (84 percent), “Education and Teaching” (80 percent) and “Finance and Insurance Services” (72 percent).
In contrast, the industries with the lowest collective agreement rates in 2024 were “Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing” (11 percent), “Arts, Entertainment and Leisure” (20 percent), “Real Estate and Housing” (22 percent), “Food and Beverage Services” (23 percent) and “Freelance, Scientific and Technical Services” (23 percent). Compared to the previous year, the collective agreement rate in these industries remained largely unchanged.
A comparison of the collective agreement rates across the German states revealed the highest rates in Bremen (56 percent), the Saarland (54 percent) and North Rhine-Westphalia (51 percent). The lowest rates were recorded in Saxony (42 percent), Berlin (44 percent), Thuringia (45 percent) and Schleswig-Holstein (46 percent), according to the Federal Statistical Office.