Working Life > Income

Income and Trivia

Definition, Explanation

The income or salary, wage, payment, loan is part of the employment contract. The employment contract is negotiable but is often regulated by some collective agreement. Depending on the kind of the occupation the employee is paid either per hour or per month. Employees working in the field are normally paid by commission.

Employers tend increasingly to paying success-dependent premia as a variable income in addition to the basic income. Variables of this component are annually determined in a special agreement. In the tariff part, sometimes holiday pay and Christmas money are paid which are usual parts of the tariff contract. Additional components of the income can a company car, a mobile phone or notebook that can be used privately, but also a company pension or special conditions in insurances like health insurance or life insurance. The payment of executives is freely negotiable, while most companies have introduced certain groupings.

Special regulations apply in cases of sickness and on Holidays, called continuation of payments “Entgeltfortzahlung”.

The employer reduces the income by amounts of statutory pension, health insurance, unemployment insurance, nursing care insurance and pays wage tax, solidarity tax and church tax to the tax authorities. The employee is paid a net wage.

Heavily discussed topics about wage and salaries are minimum wages respective low wages, 1-€ Jobs, incomes of women and of board members, illicit employment / moonlighting and poverty despite full employment. A discussed model for treating job market problems and and the increasing unemployment rate is the basic income.

Tips, Checklist

• Inform yourself about wage standards of your sector, your occupation, your profession
• Make your wage a part of annual employee talks and of the performance evaluation
• Prepare thoroughly for your salary negotiation

Articles

• Six-Figure Nannies Take Home Big Bucks; ABC News, July 21, 2009
• The Hot Jobs Where Pay Is Rising In The Recession; Forbes.com, July 16, 2009

Last update: 08/14/2010