ERA North Rhine-Westphalia 2026: Salary & Wage Table
Last updated August 26, 2026
North Rhine-Westphalia's ERA agreement is negotiated between IG Metall and Metall NRW, covering Germany's most populous state and its historic industrial heartland around the Ruhr region. The table runs 14 Entgeltgruppen at the standard 35-hour week.
NRW's actual Eckentgelt is EG8 (€3,295.00), not EG5 as in most other Tarifgebiete: NRW's own wage table runs flat (no tenure-based steps) from EG1 through EG11, with progression only starting at EG12, so its reference grade for T-ZUG B sits higher than in most other regions. At €3,295.00 it's close to, not far below, most other Tarifgebiete's roughly €3,288-3,356 Eckentgelt figures.
The table below lists every Entgeltgruppe and experience step at its full monthly gross tariff wage. For Weihnachtsgeld, Urlaubsgeld, T-ZUG A/B, and T-Geld calculated for your own grade and tenure, use the interactive ERA explorer linked below.
Key facts at a glance
Negotiated between IG Metall and Metall NRW.
ERA wage table for North Rhine-Westphalia
Every Entgeltgruppe and experience step, as full monthly gross tariff wage (before bonuses).
| Entgeltgruppe | Step | Monthly wage |
|---|---|---|
| EG1 | Grundentgelt | 2.789,00 € |
| EG2 | Grundentgelt | 2.823,00 € |
| EG3 | Grundentgelt | 2.855,50 € |
| EG4 | Grundentgelt | 2.899,50 € |
| EG5 | Grundentgelt | 2.960,50 € |
| EG6 | Grundentgelt | 3.037,50 € |
| EG7 | Grundentgelt | 3.132,00 € |
| EG8 | Grundentgelt | 3.295,00 € |
| EG9 | Grundentgelt | 3.561,00 € |
| EG10 | Grundentgelt | 3.914,00 € |
| EG11 | Grundentgelt | 4.389,00 € |
| EG12 | bis 36. Monat | 4.523,00 € |
| nach 36. Monat | 5.023,00 € | |
| EG13 | bis 18. Monat | 5.054,00 € |
| nach 18. Monat | 5.351,50 € | |
| nach 36. Monat | 5.945,50 € | |
| EG14 | bis 12. Monat | 5.741,00 € |
| nach 12. Monat | 6.100,50 € | |
| nach 24. Monat | 6.459,50 € | |
| nach 36. Monat | 7.178,50 € |
Additional ERA payments
Beyond the table wage above, the ERA agreement includes these payments.
| Payment | How it's calculated | Example at EG5 |
|---|---|---|
| Christmas bonus (Weihnachtsgeld) | Scales with tenure: 25.00% at 6+ months, 35.00% at 12+ months, 45.00% at 24+ months, 55.00% at 36+ months | 1.812,25 € |
| Holiday pay (Urlaubsgeld) | 72.00% of your monthly wage | 2.372,40 € |
| T-ZUG A | 27.50% of your own monthly wage | 906,13 € |
| T-ZUG B | 26.50% of a fixed regional reference wage, the same for everyone in this region regardless of your own grade | 873,18 € |
| Transformation payment (T-Geld) | 18.40% of your own monthly wage | 606,28 € |
Example amounts use the EG8 Eckentgelt wage of 3.295,00 €/month shown above. Most of these scale up or down with your own Entgeltgruppe; T-ZUG B is fixed regionwide and doesn't change with your grade.
Frequently asked questions
What are ERA full-time hours in NRW?
35 hours per week, the standard western German ERA full-time week.
What is the Eckentgelt (EG8) in NRW?
€3,295.00 per month: NRW's wage table anchors T-ZUG B to EG8, not EG5 as in most other Tarifgebiete, since NRW's grade structure differs from the rest of this tool's regions.
What's the ERA Weihnachtsgeld in NRW?
Up to 55% of the bonus-inclusive monthly wage at full vesting.
Which employer association negotiates ERA in NRW?
Metall NRW, together with IG Metall.
References
- https://www.igmetall.de/download/20260331_Metall_Elektroindustrie_ERA_Tabellen_f2965b456efe1ba4f35a9e90d5931e1120a8701f.pdf (page 3, Nordrhein-Westfalen — verified by rendering to an image and reading directly)
- https://www.metall.nrw/tarif/tarif-abc/
- https://www.tarifregister.nrw.de/material/metall_elektro2.pdf (official NRW state Tarifregister datasheet — confirms the Weihnachtsgeld tenure schedule and the 72% Urlaubsgeld figure's 2.4%-per-day mechanic directly, read via pdftotext)