Berlin (dpa) – Workers in the former East Germany earn, on average, hundreds of euros less per month than their colleagues in the West, even three decades after German reunification, according to official statistics.
The wage gap is only slowly narrowing, the Federal Statistical Office data revealed.
Gross earnings for full-time employees in the western federal states and Berlin – excluding special payments beyond the employee’s normal salary – averaged 4,237 euros (4,860 dollars) per month in the third quarter of 2021. In the five eastern states, the figure was 3,442 euros.
The hard-left Die Linke party, which requested the data, called for wages to be equal across Germany by 2025 – some 35 years after the reunification of the two parts of Germany separated during the Cold War.
“In every eastern German state, people earn less than in any western German state,” Die Linke parliamentary group leader Dietmar Bartsch told dpa.
“The wage gap is still huge, at just under 900 euros … Equal pay for equal work – that would reduce justified frustration,” Bartsch said.
The data reveal significant differences, not only between regions, but also between sectors and between men and women.
Some experts argue that, since the cost of living is lower in eastern Germany, the difference in purchasing power is not as large as the wage difference.
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