Even 33 years after reunification, workers in East Germany still earn significantly less than in the West. The increase in the legally mandated minimum hourly wage has not changed this, German media write.

Significantly more people in East Germany than in the West earn less than 13 euros per hour and are therefore in the low-wage sector. This emerges from a special evaluation by the Federal Statistical Office, commissioned by the Left Party parliamentary group in the Bundestag.

One million workers have an hourly wage lower than 13 euros

Accordingly, almost every fifth resident of East Germany receives less than 13 euros gross per hour, that is a total of almost one million workers.

Women are particularly affected. As many as one in five (21.4 percent) earn below that amount.

In the West, one in six people receives an hourly wage lower than 13 euros.

In general, according to the evaluation, there are significant differences between East and West for all examined hourly wages.

A minimum hourly wage of 14 euros is needed

In the East, more than a third of employees earned less than 15 euros, and two thirds of employees less than 20 euros per hour. In the West, however, every third person earns less than 15 euros, and every second around 20 euros.

“We need a minimum hourly wage of 14 euros from January 1, 2024, for the social and economic unity of the country,” said the head of the Left Party parliamentary group, Dietmar Bartsch, to German media.

The planned increase to 12.41 euros is “a disgrace on the part of politicians and a serious loss of real wages”. The minimum hourly wage currently stands at 12 euros.

“Dissatisfaction in the east is boiling”

Shortly before German Unity Day on October 3, Bartsch called on the German government to convene a top-level meeting.

“Dissatisfaction in the east is boiling,” Bartsch told German media.

Therefore, an East Germany summit is necessary.

The German government must “make a noticeable change in its policy if it does not want a political catastrophe to occur in the state elections in the east next year,” he added.

Source: fenix-magazin.de