Job offer ranking: Where students can best earn some extra money

  • Berlin School of Business and Innovation (BSBI) analyses job opportunities for students in the ten largest university cities in Germany
  • Cologne offers the most jobs, Aachen has the least choice 
  • With an hourly wage of 36 euros, freelance technical support jobs are in high demand

Cologne is the leader in job offers

Carnival and Kölsch – that’s what Cologne stands for. But the cathedral city is also one of Germany’s university strongholds and rightly so: with 234 job offers for students, Cologne is in first place in the ranking. It is closely followed by the Bavarian capital of Munich (227 jobs) and the capital Berlin (175 jobs), which are in second and third place respectively. Aachen is in last place, with just 15 job offers. Münster (eighth place; 48 jobs) and Bochum (ninth place; 26 jobs) occupy the penultimate places. However, when looking at the number of students in Germany’s ten largest university cities, an uneven distribution emerges: more than 900,000 young people are currently studying in the cities analysed, but only 1,145 vacancies were advertised on the job platform at the time of the study. Excluding other job platforms, this means that there would be around 800 students for every job.

Find the best paid jobs in technical support

Of the total of 1,145 job offers, just over half – around 54 per cent (616 jobs) – are above the statutory minimum wage of 12 euros per hour, while around 44 per cent (498 jobs) of the offers state that they are paid on a negotiated basis.  Students with an affinity for technology have the best chances of finding a well-paid part-time job. With an hourly wage of up to 36 euros, freelance jobs in technical support are among the best-paid jobs in the ranking.  However, talented linguists can also earn good additional income as interpreters (33 euros/hour). There are more and more job offers in Hamburg in particular. If you are looking for a more unusual job and enjoy solving puzzles, you are on the right track with a job as a game director.  With an hourly wage of up to 22.50 euros, it is the third best-paid job offer.

At the lower end of the scale, there are positions for working students in HR or marketing in Berlin, for example, which only pay the minimum wage. There is slightly more for working students in content management or as temporary staff in retail (12.50 euros). On average, students in the ten largest university cities earn 17.24 euros per hour. Wages are highest in Bochum, where the average hourly salary is 21.21 euros. Students earn the least on average in Aachen (15.08 euros per hour).

Prof Dr Kyriakos Kouveliotis, Provost & Chief Academic Officer of the BSBI, comments on the analysis: “A part-time job is part of everyday life for many students today. Our analysis shows that most offers are only just above the minimum wage and well-paid jobs are few and far between. However, in addition to remuneration, learning practical skills often plays a role for students, for example when choosing a working student job. This is an opportunity for companies to find and retain future specialists and managers. It is also important that companies offer students relevant experience and skills for their future career path. We are already moulding talented specialists and managers here.”

About the study

About the Berlin School of Business and Innovation

Press contact:

Desiree Engel I desiree.engel@tonka-pr.com I +491726206392


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