Germany: the pay gap between east and west is still over 27%

Constant wage gap. Dedicated to “The Eastern Employment Market 20 Years after the fall of the Wall,” the DGB’s study shows that the living conditions of most eastern Germans definitely improved since the reunification in 1990 but that the recovery is far from being over. Worse, it got jammed. Thus, the pay gap between east and west hardly moved between 1996 and 2006, going from 27.1% to 27.4%. The authors notably explain this phenomenon by the small number of businesses which signed sectoral collective agreements. Also, there are many low-wage sectors. After the market was deregulated in 1998, these sectors boomed throughout Germany but mostly in the east. Thus, in 2007, 40.1% of East Germans received low wages (€9.19 gross an hour as opposed to €18.8 in the west).
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tely improved since the reunification in 1990 but that the recovery is far from being over. Worse, it got jammed. Thus, the pay gap between east and west hardly moved between 1996 and 2006, going from 27.1% to 27.4%. The authors notably explain this phenomenon by the small number of businesses which signed sectoral collective agreements. Also, there are many low-wage sectors. After the market was deregulated in 1998, these sectors boomed throughout Germany but mostly in the east. Thus, in 2007,

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