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DIW Weekly Report 29 / 2025
As the baby boomer generation enters retirement, the payas- you-go pension system in Germany is under an increasing amount of pressure. Relevant changes, in particular higher contribution rates or lower pension levels, are causing tension between generations: Either the financial burden on the younger generations is increased or the risk of insufficient pensions and old-age poverty for the elderly ...
2025| Stefan Bach, Maximilian Blesch, Annica Gehlen, Johannes Geyer, Peter Haan, Stefan Klotz, Bruno Veltri
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DIW Weekly Report 27/28 / 2025
The previous federal government coalition had planned to pay private households a climate dividend to offset rising carbon prices; a payout process was even prepared. However, the climate dividend is nowhere to be seen in the new federal government’s coalition agreement. In the long term, a social compensation mechanism will be important, as prices for fossil and heating fuels will continue to rise ...
2025| Stefan Bach, Rebecca Engelhardt, Lars Felder, Peter Haan, Renke Schmacker
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DIW Weekly Report 25/26 / 2025
The new German federal government coalition is planning a significant tax break for workers of retirement age: the active pension (Aktivrente). With the active pension, workers who have reached the statutory retirement age may earn up to 2,000 euros a month tax-free, a move that the government is hoping will motivate more pensioners to work longer to counteract the skilled worker shortage. Microsimulation ...
2025| Stefan Bach, Hermann Buslei, Johannes Geyer, Peter Haan, Joris Pieper
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DIW Weekly Report 18/19 / 2025
The average gender pay gap in Germany is 16 percent according to the most recent data. On the occasion of the 2025 Equal Pay Day, this Weekly Report using Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) data shows that considerable differences according to age and level of education are hiding behind this average gap. For example, the gender pay gap increases significantly with age for people of all educational backgrounds ...
2025| Fiona Herrmann, Katharina Wrohlich
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DIW Weekly Report 12/13 / 2025
The gender pension gap, the difference in pension entitlements between men and women, is 32 percent for 60-yearolds according to data from the German Pension Insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung). In addition, there is a considerable motherhood pension gap: Statutory pension entitlements for mothers and childless women differ greatly. Pension-related childcare credits, which were introduced in 1986 ...
2025| Peter Haan, Michaela Kreyenfeld, Sarah Schmauk, Tatjana Mika
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DIW Weekly Report 3/4 / 2025
In 2024, the share of women on the top decision-making boards of the largest companies in Germany increased. A solid 19 percent of all executive board members at the 200 largest companies are now women, and almost 26 percent of members at the 40 largest listed companies are women. The financial sector is also catching up in this regard. Moreover, legal requirements, such as the inclusion requirement ...
2025| Virginia Sondergeld, Katharina Wrohlich, Anja Kirsch
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DIW Weekly Report 43/44 / 2024
With the transition from the German national emissions trading system to the European Emissions Trading System (EU ETS2) from 2027, final consumer prices for fossil motor and heating fuels are likely to rise significantly. This increase will affect low-income households more noticeably, as they spend a larger share of their income on energy than high-income households. Existing relief measures, such ...
2024| Stefan Bach, Mark Hamburg, Simon Meemken, Marlene Merker, Joris Pieper
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DIW Weekly Report 29/30/31 / 2024
On average, mothers and fathers in Germany divide paid work and care work very unequally. Mothers often only work part time, which results in further gender inequalities in the labor market. A current analysis of data from the German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA) shows that the population’s attitudes toward the ideal division of work between couples with children under 12 are considerably more ...
2024| Ludovica Gambaro, Annica Gehlen, C. Katharina Spieß, Katharina Wrohlich, Elena Ziege
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DIW Weekly Report 12 / 2024
Refugees have limited health care entitlements during the asylum process. In February 2024, the maximum length of this exclusion period was increased from 18 to 36 months. This increase may double the actual waiting time, which is currently already more than one year, as data from the Socio-Economic Panel show. This particularly affects refugees with a low level of education and little knowledge of ...
2024| Louise Biddle
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DIW Weekly Report 9 / 2024
The gender care gap, i.e., the difference between the amount of unpaid care work—such as childcare and housework—performed between men and women is comparatively high in Germany: Women take on much more unpaid care work than men. This gap increases consistently when starting a family. At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, many feared that the gender care gap may grow even larger. In ...
2024| Jonas Jessen, Lavinia Kinne, Katharina Wrohlich