As reported by "Russkaya Germaniya", the Federal Employment Agency's reports for 2016 gave first place to the federal state of Hesse, whose average monthly wage was 110.7% of the national average; second place was Baden-Württemberg (109.4%), and the always prosperous Bavaria was only in third place (106.1%). The lowest earners were in Thuringia – only 79.7% of the national average.
Such a large difference in earnings depends not so much on the geographical location of the city as on the presence of large employers. The high level of earnings in Bavarian Ingolstadt is determined primarily by the presence of the automaker Audi. However, high wages alone do not determine the standard of living.
As experts note, in areas with high wages, the cost of renting housing, the cost per square meter of new residential construction, and the cost of food are typically high. It is no coincidence that the "weight" of state subsidies for the purchase of own housing by young families with children varies greatly across different regions of the country: in the less affluent regions of Eastern Germany, where a 100-square-meter apartment costs, on average, between 50,000 and 80,000 euros, under the most favorable conditions the state will finance almost half the cost of housing for buyer families, whereas in the western states – comparable housing will cost about 500,000 euros, meaning state support will not exceed 5%.
The arithmetic mean of monthly earnings across the country as of December 31, 2017, was 3,209 euros, slightly higher than the previous year (3,133 euros). The statistical data from the Federal Employment Agency includes holiday and Christmas bonuses, as well as local supplements to wages. However, regardless, workers in the west of the country earned, as indicated above, an average of 3,339 euros, while in the eastern states only 2,600 euros.
Sabine Zimmermann, a labor market expert from the Left Party, called the situation in which workers in the eastern states receive less for the same work than workers in the western states "shameful." And although subsidized regions also exist in the western states, Sabine Zimmermann emphasizes: "If the federal government is serious about the stated goal of ensuring equal living and working conditions in all regions, it should not limit itself to words and statements."
Her party advocates for strengthening the role of tariff contracts (Tarifverträge) and tariff agreements (Tarifbindung) and for raising the minimum hourly wage to 12 euros. As is known, this figure is currently 8.84 euros and is set to increase to 9.19 euros next year.