Publikationen des Vorstandsbereichs

Upswing in a Subdued Global Economy: DIW Economic Outlook

The German economy continues to recover, and will grow by 2.2 percent in 2015 and by 1.9 percent in 2016. The unemployment rate will further decline, to 6.4 percent this year and 6.1percent in 2016. Inflation, which averages 0.5 percent this year, will be substantially dampened by the slump in oil prices; in 2016 as well, inflation will remain low, at 1.2 percent. The global economy continues in its ...

Aircraft Noise in Berlin Affects Quality of Life Even Outside the Airport Grounds

Aircraft noise is a particularly problematic source of noise as many airports are located in or near major cities and, as a result, densely populated areas are affected. Data from the Berlin Aging Study II (Berliner Altersstudie II, BASE-II), whose socio-economic module is based on the longitudinal Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study which has been conducted since 1984, allows us to examine the effect ...

Labor Market Participation of Women on the Rise: Five Questions to Karl Brenke

Growing Importance of Women in the German Labor Market

An increasing share of the working-age population is active in the German labor market. In particular, the number of women participating in the labor force has grown. The more highly qualified they are, the greater their participation in the labor market — and the level of qualification among women has increased considerably, now approaching that of men. Regardless of their qualifications, women’s ...

Financial Sector: Share of Women in Top Decision-Making Bodies Remains Low

At the end of 2014, women were no better represented on the top decision-making bodies of enterprises in the financial sector than the previous year. The share of women on the executive boards of the 100 largest banks and savings banks remained at an average of almost seven percent and on the executive boards of the 60 largest insurance companies at 8.5 percent. On supervisory boards, change was slow ...

Executive Boards of Large Companies Remain Male-Dominated Monocultures: Seven Questions to Elke Holst

Executive Board and Supervisory Board Members in Germany’s Large Corporations Remain Predominantly Male

The executive boards of large corporations in Germany continue to be in men’s hands: at the close of 2014, a good five percent of executive board members at the top 200 companies in Germany were women. This is equivalent to an increase of one percentage point over 2013, which is evidence of the rather sluggish development in this area. DAX 30 companies recorded the largest proportion of female board ...

Eastern Germany Ahead in Employment of Women

Almost a quarter of a century after the fall of the Wall, there are still more women in employment in eastern Germany than in the west. Although the disparity is marginal now, the two regions started from dramatically different levels. In 1991, immediately after reunification, the employment rate for women in western Germany was 54.6 percent, but since then it has increased year on year, reaching 67.5 ...

Eastern Germany Must Focus on Education and Innovation: Six Questions to Karl Brenke

Eastern Germany Still Playing Economic Catch-Up

The economic gap between eastern and western Germany is still sizeable, even 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In terms of GDP per inhabitant and productivity, eastern Germany has attained nearly three-quarters of western German levels, respectively. Since some years, the catch-up process is advancing very slowly indeed. The main reason for low productivity is the lack of highly skilled jobs. ...