Home > The news of EUROGIP and occupational risks in Europe >
The average corporate contribution rate – at 1.22% – has never been as low as in 2014. It fell more than 2% compared with the previous year (1.25%).
Never yet have companies had to pay such a small proportion of their payroll to insure their employees against occupational injuries and diseases. This can be explained by an employment rate that is still high, and by a constant decline in the number of injuries.
“Stable contributions contribute to the success of prevention and rehabilitation” explained the director of the DGUV, Joachim Breuer. Occupational injury risk decreased by a further 1% last year, standing at 22.3 cases reported per 1,000 full-time employees. The total number of occupational and commuting injuries reported was 1,044,057, i.e. 1.5% less than the previous year.
Total expenses by the BGs for the private sector and by injury insurance funds for the public sector amounted to €14 billion. Employers’ contributions amounted to €12 billion, i.e. €1.4 billion to insure public-sector employees and school pupils and students, and €10.7 billion in contributions to insure private-sector employees.
“The trend in average contribution rates favourable to companies is partly due to the good economic situation”, according to Breuer. The expenses of the BGs and the public-sector accident insurance funds were slightly higher, but salaries and wages, which serve as a basis for calculating the contributions, increased more rapidly. “It is important, in such a context, that pensions practically did not increase in 2014. What did increase, however, were expenses for risk prevention, medical care and rehabilitation, i.e. investments which positively influence the long-term trend in pension spending” added Breuer. This contributes to intergenerational fairness regarding social security, given that, in an unfunded pension scheme, the burden of pensions weighs largely on future contributors.
To find out more (in german)
