13. Personnel expenses
in € thousand |
2019 |
2018 |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Wages and salaries |
353,143 |
332,089 |
||
Staff deployment |
75,987 |
73,353 |
||
Social security contributions and benefits |
71,081 |
67,717 |
||
Service expense |
15,097 |
6,898 |
||
Other retirement benefit expenses |
811 |
523 |
||
|
516,119 |
480,580 |
The direct remuneration paid to members of the Executive Board totalled € 3,060 thousand for the 2019 financial year (previous year: € 2,955 thousand). More details on the remuneration paid to the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board can be found in Note 48.
The rise in personnel expenses in the year under review is chiefly due to increases in union wage rates and a larger headcount.
Social security contributions and benefits rose commensurate to expenses for wages and salaries. Social security contributions include payments towards the public pension scheme amounting to € 29,759 thousand (previous year: € 28,286 thousand) and payments to the German pension insurance scheme.
Service expense includes payments from defined benefit pension commitments and similar obligations. The increase in these expenses is attributable to higher contributions to the HHLA capital plan, see Note 36.
|
2019 |
2018 |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Employees receiving wages |
3,273 |
3,048 |
||
Salaried staff |
2,796 |
2,665 |
||
Trainees |
73 |
65 |
||
|
6,142 |
5,778 |
In addition, the Group used an annual average of 753 employees (previous year: 760) of Gesamthafenbetriebs Gesellschaft m.b.H., Hamburg (GHB).