2024-04-29 15:29:49
There is still a difference between East and West Germany. Nevertheless, the gap between low and top earners in Germany has decreased overall.
The gap between low and top earners in Germany has narrowed due to the significant increase in the statutory minimum wage. In April 2023, higher earners received an average of 2.98 times the gross hourly earnings of low earners, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Monday. In April 2022 it was 3.28 times. Previously, the gap had hardly changed between 2018 and 2022. In April 2018, higher earners received 3.27 times their earnings.
“The driver for this development was the comparatively strong increase in earnings among low-earners due to the increased minimum wage,” the statisticians explained the current decline in the so-called wage spread. The statutory minimum wage was increased from April 2022 to April 2023 from 9.82 euros to 12 euros an hour. As a result, the earnings of the lowest group increased by an average of 12.4 percent, while those of the upper group only increased by 1.9 percent.
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Difference between East and West Germany
In April of last year, a person earning up to 12.25 euros per hour was considered a low earner, i.e. in the bottom ten percent of the wage scale. Those who received an hourly wage of at least 36.48 euros were among the higher earners and therefore in the top ten percent.
The changes in the wage gap have recently been similar in western and eastern Germany. The earnings gap fell in both the West and the East. Nevertheless, the wage gap in the West remains significantly larger than in the East: In April 2023, higher earners in West Germany received 3.04 times the gross hourly earnings of low earners, while those in East Germany earned 2.49 times. In April 2022, the earnings gap in the west was 3.34 and in the east it was 2.8, according to the Federal Statistical Office.