The inequality between the old and new German states cannot be eradicated: the population of eastern Germany works two weeks longer each year than residents of the west and still earns less
According to "Russkaya Germaniya", Germans in the east of the country worked an average of 1,432 hours last year, in the west – 1,358. The difference between the average working hours in the former GDR and the old states reaches 74 hours – that is almost two full five-day working weeks. Following Thuringia with 1,454 working hours per year are Brandenburg (1,445), Saxony-Anhalt (1,436), Saxony (1,432), Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (1,429) and Berlin (1,409), and only then the first western state of Germany – Hamburg, whose residents work an average of 1,405 hours per year.
Bavarians work 1,377 hours, Hessians – 1,372 – one hour more than the average annual working time across the Federal Republic. Residents of Schleswig-Holstein already work less than the average German – 1,368 hours per year. In Baden-Württemberg, one must work 1,363 hours per year, in Lower Saxony – 1,353, in Rhineland-Palatinate – 1,341, in North Rhine-Westphalia – 1,334. Workers living in Saarland are expected to work 1,331 hours per year, in Bremen – 1,329.
Experts from the Nuremberg Institute for Employment Research (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, IAB) cite two reasons for such noticeable regional differences between the east and west of the country. Historically, the influence of trade unions in the former GDR is significantly lower than in the western states; accordingly, collective bargaining agreements are less common at enterprises in the east, and where they exist, they provide workers with worse working conditions – longer working weeks and fewer vacation days. 'Moreover, full-time employment is more widespread in the east than in the west,' explains IAB expert Susanne Wangler of the surprising statistics.
Recall that the average salary in the former GDR, according to the Institute for Work and Qualification of the University of Duisburg-Essen (Institut Arbeit und Qualifikation der Universität Duisburg-Essen), amounts to 77% of the average salary in the western states of Germany. Tax revenues to the budget from one resident of eastern Germany average 937 euros, from the west – 1,837. The economic power of the eastern states lags behind the western states by about 30%.