Like in the 50’s and 60’s
Scholz conjures up another German “economic miracle”
03/09/2023, 10:11 p.m
Due to numerous crises, economic growth in Germany has recently been a bit under the wheels. However, Chancellor Scholz is optimistic about the future and even believes that the “economic miracle” of the post-war period will be repeated.
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz expects growth like in the days of the “economic miracle”. “Because of the high investments in climate protection, Germany will be able to achieve growth rates for some time, as last happened in the 1950s and 1960s,” said the SPD politician to the partner newspapers of the Neue Berliner Redaktionsgesellschaft. This would require faster planning, decision-making and approval.
In the 1950s and early 1960s, annual growth rates at full employment were around 8 percent. By 1966 at the latest, the trend was turning, in the following year 1967 the gross domestic product fell and unemployment almost tripled to 2.1 percent. According to the Federal Statistical Office, gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 1.9 percent in 2022 compared to the previous year despite the crises, but weakened at the end of the year. In 2021, gross domestic product (GDP) had grown by 2.6 percent.
Scholz went on to say that unemployment will no longer be a major problem in the coming decades, “on the contrary, there will be a shortage of workers”. This also applies to the areas in eastern Germany that are particularly affected by structural change. It is true that the energy transition means job losses for many. In the opencast mining areas like Lusatia, the changes therefore sound rather threatening. “But now something new is also emerging.”