Question 1

How do I convert my monthly salary into an hourly rate?

Accepted Answer

Divide your gross monthly salary by your average monthly hours. Those follow from your weekly hours multiplied by the factor 4.345 — that is 365 days divided by 7 days divided by 12 months. At 40 weekly hours this gives 173.8 monthly hours. A gross monthly salary of €3,200 therefore corresponds to an hourly rate of roughly €18.41. The commonly used approximation of 160 hours per month is too low and makes the hourly rate look about eight percent higher than it is.

Question 2

Why 4.345 and not 4.33 weeks per month?

Accepted Answer

A year has 365 days and therefore 52.143 weeks. Spread across twelve months that is 4.345 weeks a month. The value 4.33 comes from dividing 52 weeks by 12 and ignores the extra day beyond the full 52 weeks. Some collective agreements and employers nevertheless use 4.33 or fixed monthly hours such as 173 or 174. The difference is around 0.3 percent — about five cents on an hourly rate of €18. Irrelevant for comparing two offers, but it can matter for a borderline minimum wage check.

Question 3

What is the difference between the contractual and the real hourly rate?

Accepted Answer

The contractual hourly rate divides gross monthly pay by the agreed monthly hours — it treats holiday and public holiday hours as if you had worked them. The real hourly rate deducts those days and counts only the hours you genuinely spend working. With 30 holiday days and 10 public holidays that is around 40 of 261 working days fewer, a good 15 percent. Conversely, unpaid overtime pushes the figure back down. Taken together, both effects give a realistic picture of what an hour of work actually earns.

Question 4

How high is the statutory minimum wage in 2026?

Accepted Answer

The statutory minimum wage has been €13.90 gross per hour since 1 January 2026. Before that it was €12.82, so the increase is around 8.4 percent. The legal basis is the fifth minimum wage adjustment ordinance of 5 November 2025. In a second step the minimum wage rises to €14.60 on 1 January 2027. On a 40-hour week the 2026 minimum wage corresponds to gross monthly pay of roughly €2,416.

Question 5

Who is not covered by the minimum wage?

Accepted Answer

Exempt are, among others, trainees in a recognised vocational training programme, for whom a minimum training allowance applies instead, and people under 18 without completed vocational training. Also exempt are mandatory internships as part of school or university education, orientation internships of up to three months, volunteers, and the long-term unemployed during the first six months of a new job. Mini-jobbers and part-time employees, by contrast, are fully covered.

Question 6

How does the minimum wage affect the mini-job threshold?

Accepted Answer

Since 2022 the mini-job threshold has been dynamically linked to the minimum wage: it equals the minimum wage multiplied by 130 and divided by 3, rounded up to whole euros. With a minimum wage of €13.90 this gives an earnings limit of €603 a month, or €7,236 a year, for 2026. The idea behind it is that a mini-job should allow ten weekly hours at the minimum wage year-round. Anyone earning more moves into the midi-job transition zone.

Question 7

Do unpaid overtime hours count towards the minimum wage?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The minimum wage applies to every hour actually worked. Anyone regularly working longer without pay arithmetically lowers their hourly rate — and can drop below the minimum wage threshold even though the agreed monthly salary is above it. That is why this calculator explicitly compares the minimum wage with the hourly rate including unpaid extra work. Employers are also obliged to record the working time of certain groups of employees; those records are your most important evidence in a dispute.

Question 8

How accurate is this hourly wage calculator?

Accepted Answer

The calculator uses the customary conversion factors (52.143 weeks a year, 4.345 weeks a month) and the minimum wage of €13.90 in force since January 2026. All results are gross figures before tax and social security contributions. Deviations arise if your collective agreement prescribes different factors or fixed monthly hours, if you receive shift premiums, allowances or variable pay, or if your working time fluctuates strongly. For converting job offers and for a first minimum wage check the calculation is meaningful; it does not, however, replace a payslip or legal advice.

Guide: Hourly Wage Calculator

Calculating Your Hourly Wage: The Right Formula and the Most Common Mistakes

Minimum Wage 2026: Level, Exemptions and Enforcement

Part-Time Work: Converting Hourly Pay and Salary Correctly

Unpaid Overtime: What It Really Costs Your Hourly Rate

Annual Working Time: From 52.143 Weeks to Your Real Hourly Rate

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