Eastern Germany Ahead in Employment of Women

Abstract

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. Admittedly, the difference is marginal now but the two regions started from dramatically different levels. Immediately after reunification (1991), the employment rate for women in western Germany was 54.6 percent but since then, this has increased year on year, reaching 67.5 percent in 2012. In eastern Germany, female employment initially plummeted after the fall of the Wall but then sharply increased again and, at 69.1 percent, exceeded the western German rate in 2012. In both parts of the country, women are more likely to work part-time today than in the past although, at 27.8 hours per week, the actual volume of work carried out by eastern German women is considerably higher than in the west (21.7 hours). According to a study conducted by DIW Berlin using Socio- Economic Panel (SOEP) data, however, many women would prefer to work more hours per week. A comparison of the desired, agreed, and actual weekly working hours of women in the east and west of the country shows that, on average, for eastern German women, all values in these three categories far exceed even the maximum values for western German women. In contrast, the majority of employed men would like to work a 40-hour week but this is a reality for only 22.6 percent of western German and 29.2 percent of eastern German men. The majority work longer hours despitethe fact that this is unpopular among men. The post-reunification changes had a significant impact on the lifestyle of couples with children: the modern breadwinner model (full-time father/part-time mother) is playing an increasing role in both parts of Germany - in western Germany, this has been at the expense of the sole breadwinner model (father as sole earner) and, in the east, at the expense of the equality model (both parents working full-time).