Does the salary have to be stated in the job posting?

No. As of 28 July 2026 there is no obligation in Germany to state a salary in a job posting. The Pay Transparency Act of 2017 (Entgelttransparenzgesetz) continues to apply unchanged and contains no such obligation. The EU Pay Transparency Directive (Directive (EU) 2023/970) should have been transposed into national law by 7 June 2026 — Germany let the deadline pass, no ministerial draft bill exists, and a binding transposition act is widely expected no earlier than 2027. In practice: only 4.7% of job postings currently state a specific salary — measured across 123,750 analysed postings between May and July 2026. The share is rising (May 3.0% → July 4.7%), driven mainly by recruitment agencies and the public sector. Public-sector employers are a special case: public-sector employees can, under certain conditions, invoke the directive directly, even without a German transposition act. Legal information without warranty — this text is not legal advice.