German companies are planning major increases in salaries for their employees in the coming year. These would then almost reach the level before the Corona crisis, according to the “Salary Budget Planning Report” by the management consultancy Willis Towers Watson. The report collects the salary planning data of more than 600 companies in Germany. The expectation of an increase is supported by the fact that more than half of the companies surveyed rate their business prospects as very good. In addition, due to the shortage of skilled workers, the companies want to invest in attracting and retaining employees.

For this reason, too, companies calculated an average salary increase of 2.7 percent for managers in 2022. In 2021 it was still 2 percent. Specialist employees should receive 2.8 percent more, half a percentage point more than this year. The situation is similar for employees in production who, according to the survey, receive 2.7 percent more money. Only a good one percent of the companies are not planning any salary increases for 2022 - a significant decrease compared to the previous year, in which 8.4 percent had their salaries frozen. A third are even planning new hires. The salary increases are expected to be particularly high, with an estimated 3.9 percent plus in the construction, real estate and engineering sectors and 3.5 percent and 3.3 percent respectively for media companies and fintech companies.