GDCh members can find further information on salaries for entry-level professionals at MyGDCh. You can access the members-only area by entering your membership number and password in the top left corner of this page. Starting salaries can be found under "Special Offers" and then "Salaries."
In the GDCh graduate brochure "Starting a Career in Chemistry," you will find overview articles on the world of work, career entry, and the future, as well as a chapter on money with information on starting salaries for chemistry graduates as well as scholarships and research funding for young scientists.
The following graphic and the further information on this page provide a rough overview of the starting salaries of Chemists in Civil Service, both within and outside the chemical industry.
Please note that this chart serves as a guide. The first bar can be considered the "minimum," and the last bar the absolute maximum.
Only if all requirements are met and the fit between your own qualifications and the job advertisement is optimal should you state the maximum value as your salary expectation.
The official annual salaries for academic technical and scientific employees in the chemical industry are negotiated by the Association of Employed Academics and Senior Executives in the Chemical Industry (VAA) and the Federal Employers' Association of the Chemical Industry (BAVC). In November 2024, the minimum annual salaries for the second year of employment were redefined:
2024:
for employees with a diploma/master's degree: 74,050 euros;
for employees with a doctorate: 86,075 euros.
As before, the salary for the first year of employment can be freely agreed between the employer and the employee. It is usually lower than the amount for the second year of employment. Technical and scientific employees with a master's degree are generally classified as graduate employees.
note
It should be noted that many companies, especially small and medium-sized ones, that employ chemists are not represented in the Federal Chemical Employers' Association and are therefore not bound by its rates. Salaries are usually lower there. This is also the case in most companies outside the chemical industry.
There are no tariffs for experienced chemists. Performance and success determine the classification.
In the public sector, graduates with a university degree are usually classified according to the relevant TVöD or TVL tariffs.
The corresponding pay groups are regulated in the respective collective agreements.
Each salary group is divided into six levels (1-2 basic levels, 3-6 development levels). Through professional experience with the same employer, you can move up to the next higher level after a specified period of time. Salary groups 13 – 15 are reserved for employees with a university degree/master’s degree. A promotion does not lead to a classification in a higher tariff group.
HAW graduates (formerly FH) and chemistry bachelors are grouped in E9 to E12. Entry-level positions with a higher degree of responsibility (personnel responsibility/budget responsibility) are remunerated with salary group 14.
You can usually find out which collective agreement is binding and which salary group is intended for the position from the job advertisement. The collective agreements and the corresponding pay groups (classification) as well as collective pay agreements (amount of salary in the respective group) are publicly available on the Internet.
For the first time, the AG Junge food chemistry has conducted a salary survey on starting salaries for food chemists.
For starting a career as a food chemist, the gross annual salary ranged from 40,000 to 45,000 euros.
All evaluations and further information on the survey can be found in the "MyGDCh" area under "Salaries for chemists".
| country | information |
|---|---|
|
Austria |
Since 2012, information about salary must be included in the job advertisement |
|
Switzerland |
Swiss Federal Statistical Office |
|
USA |
American Chemical Society |
| other countries | If you have questions about salaries for experienced professionals abroad, the chemical societies of the respective country may be able to provide information |
For chemical specialists with a vocational background, salaries in the chemical industry are regulated by the collective bargaining agreements of the respective member states. These are negotiated by the company representatives (BAVC; Federal Employers' Association of the Chemical Industry) and the employee representatives (IG BCE; Industrial Union of Mining, Chemical and Energy).
Classification is based on pay grades, similar to those in the public sector. The collective wage agreements, including the respective income levels for each grade, are freely available online, as is the case for the public sector.
In the GDCh graduate brochures " Career Perspectives in Chemistry " (explicitly for specialists with a training background) and " Starting a Career in Chemistry " you will find useful information on starting a career and reports from newcomers to the profession, as well as detailed overview articles on the topic of salary.
A list of salary groups in the chemical industry can be found below:
| Pay group | Explanation |
|---|---|
|
E6 |
Requirement 3-year completed vocational training or employees who demonstrate comparable skills through a corresponding number of years of practical experience, e.g. chemical technician, pharmaceutical technician |
|
E7 |
are awarded to employees who have skills that exceed those of E6 (completed training that requires a greater degree of abstraction of the learning content) and are carried out according to instructions, e.g. chemical laboratory technicians. Example: Carrying out routine analyses, test procedures or preparative work according to standard company methods |
|
E8 |
E7 qualification plus regularly difficult tasks that are performed independently. Furthermore, special knowledge acquired through additional in-company training is required to perform these tasks. This usually requires longer employment at E7. For example, complex device controls of spectrometers or gas chromatographs, or work with multi-stage preparations. |
|
E9 |
E8 plus higher-level commercial or technical activities that are performed according to instructions and that require either completed function-related vocational training or someone who has acquired additional job-specific expertise. Examples include: revising/creating procedural regulations, optimizing production-related activities, and administrative tasks. |
|
E10 |
Prerequisites include high-quality technical tasks that are performed independently according to general instructions. Vocational training with additional qualifications as a chemical technician or equivalent is required. Examples include optimizing or developing new testing procedures or methods, production support, monitoring workflows in the pilot plant, coupled with specific expertise in analysis or synthesis. |
|
E11 |
Employees with a successful completion of a university of applied sciences entrance qualification, e.g. engineers or laboratory technicians with high-quality technical tasks who also have personnel responsibility and/or responsibility for cost centers and budgets. |
The following chart provides a rough overview of starting salaries (monthly salaries) for chemical specialists with a training background in the public sector and the chemical industry. A survey conducted by the Hans Böckler Foundation at lohnspiegel.de offers another option.
* without pro rata annual special payment
**Federal state with highest and lowest tariff
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last modified: 27.08.2025 11:44 H from A.Miller
