Residents of Germany's industrial cities earn more
As "Russkaya Germaniya" writes, at one time deputy chairwoman of the faction Sabine Zimmermann sent a request to the government to name four cities or districts in the country with the lowest and highest gross income. The Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs provided the requested data – including to the DPA news agency.
As it turned out, the average monthly gross income of a German resident is 3,084 euros. But the basis was not the arithmetic mean, which is not always convincing: it is like dividing the total income of a thousand unemployed and one millionaire in half – we will not get a true picture. Much more accurate is the so-called median indicator, which divides Germany's population into two parts along the income boundary between them. That is, exactly half of the country's residents earn more than a certain amount (in this case, the aforementioned 3,084 euros), and the other half earns less. At the same time, it turned out that there are quite significant regional differences.
According to data from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, the cities with the highest salaries in Germany are the "automotive capitals" – Wolfsburg (average gross income 4,610 euros) and Ingolstadt (4,545 euros), where Volkswagen and Audi cars are produced. Third and fourth place are occupied by Ludwigshafen (4,491 euros) and Erlangen (4,486 euros). Here, too, everything is clear: in the city on the Rhine is the headquarters of the world's largest chemical concern BASF SE, and in Bavarian Erlangen, Siemens enterprises produce their complex medical (and not only) equipment.
At the other end of the income scale are the poorest municipalities in Germany. The "record holder" here is the Saxon district of Erzgebirge, where the population receives an average of 2,036 euros – more than two times less than residents of Wolfsburg. The situation is slightly better in the districts of Vorpommern-Rügen (2,057 euros), Elbe-Elster (2,060 euros), and Görlitz (2,068 euros).
The decisive factor for such a disparity is the share of residents with low wages – less than two-thirds of the average. If in wealthy cities they make up 8-12%, then in the poorest municipalities it is practically every second person, i.e., about 50%. The average for Germany is about 20%.
"Given such a clear regional difference in salaries, one cannot speak of equal living conditions in the country," concludes Sabine Zimmermann. "After all, in the Erzgebirge district, products in the supermarket or cars are by no means half as cheap as in regions with high salaries."
The Left Party deputy accuses the government of having overlooked one of the most important areas of its activity – creating equal living conditions for all municipalities. She calls for correcting this imbalance by tightening tariff agreements, which in the east protect the rights of employees to a lesser extent than in the west of the country.