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The Shrinking German Middle Class - Signs of Long-Term Polarization in Disposable Income?

Country case study--Germany

The Great Recession (GR) of the late 2000s had a significant but fortunately only temporary impact on the German labour market and economy as a whole. By the last quarter of 2010, nominal GDP had already returned to pre-recession levels and unemployment had reached its lowest levels since reunification. Scholars have described this striking resilience of the German labour market as ‘Germany’s jobs ...

Reduction in Income Inequality Faltering

Inequality of disposable incomes in Germany has decreased slightly since its peak in 2005. However, this trend did not continue in 2011. The most important reasons for this were the inequality in market incomes, including capital incomes, which had increased again. Besides this finding, the updated analyses of personal income distribution based on the Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) show that the ...

Real Income Rose Significantly between 1991 and 2014 on Average – First Indication of Return to Increased Income Inequality

The real disposable income of private households in Germany, accounting for inflation, rose by 12 percent between 1991 and 2014. This is what the present study based on data from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) has shown. However, the trends varied greatly depending on income group. While the middle income segment rose by more than eight percent, the highest income segment increased by up to 26 percent. ...

Income distribution in Germany: Real income on the rise since 1991 but more people with low incomes

Between 1991 and 2015, the real disposable, needs-adjusted income of persons in private households in Germany rose by 15 percent on average. The majority of the population has benefited from the growth in real income, but the groups at the lower end of the income distribution have not. Inequality in both market and disposable needs-adjusted household income has remained high. These are the findings ...

Income Inequality Remains High in Germany — Young Singles and Career Entrants Increasingly At Risk of Poverty

According to calculations based on the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study, average disposable household income rose by five percent in real terms between 2000 and 2012. Only the highest earners have benefited from this development. While real income in the top ten percent rose by more than 15 percent, the earnings of the middle income groups stagnated, and even fell in the lower income groups. As a ...

Shrinking Share of Middle-Income Group in Germany and the US

According to calculations based on the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study, the proportion of middle-income group in Germany fell by six percentage points from 1991 to 2013, taking it to 54 percent. Germany is not the only country to have experienced such a downturn, however. Analyses of the situation in the US indicate a similar decline. To the middle-income group belong individuals in households earning ...

Has Income Inequality Spiked in Germany?

New analyses of personal income distribution in Germany, based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), show that real market income in private households rose significantly from 2005 to 2010. An increase in real disposable income was also observed. At the same time, income inequality decreased in both western and eastern Germany. However, the latter showed a further spread at the lower ...

Growth in Unemployment Raises Poverty Rates: Most low-wage earnings constitute supplement to primary household income

Increased unemployment has led to growing poverty. Earnings inequality has increased but most earners are 'working poor'