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Average income in Saxony higher than in Saarland
01.06.2024, 11:27 a.m.
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Almost 30 years after reunification, employees in some regions of East Germany earn more on average than in parts of West Germany. This is according to data from the Federal Statistical Office.
A good three decades after reunification, monthly incomes in parts of East Germany have overtaken some West German states. According to data from the Federal Statistical Office, the average values are higher in Saxony and Brandenburg than in Schleswig-Holstein or Saarland. However, more hours are worked in the East. The data was requested by Sahra Wagenknecht, a member of the Bundestag.
After German reunification in 1990, East Germans often worked under worse conditions for decades and had lower incomes on average. According to data from April 2023, this is still roughly true: For the entire former Federal Republic, the Federal Statistical Office reports the average monthly income for all employment relationships as 3,205 euros; for the eastern federal states, 2,910 euros. Gross hourly earnings were also higher on average in the west (25.16 euros) than in the east (20.97 euros).
The differences are getting smaller
However, the gap is shrinking between individual regions. The average gross hourly wage in Schleswig-Holstein was 22.67 euros, and in Saxony 21.21 euros. The bottom line is that the average monthly income in Schleswig-Holstein was 2890 euros. In Saxony – with slightly more hours worked and paid – it was 2925 euros.
Women – who were more often employed part-time – had an average of 29.9 paid hours per week in the East and 25.7 in the West. Thus, female employees in the Eastern states, with an average monthly income of 2,645 euros, outperformed their colleagues in the West with 2,505 euros.
Wagenknecht, however, complained that real wages were too low nationwide. “In many regions in the west, purchasing power is falling particularly sharply,” warned the chairwoman of the alliance, Sahra Wagenknecht. “Rural areas in particular are at risk of being left behind.” She called for the statutory minimum wage to be raised to 14 euros as early as July 1, thereby implementing the EU minimum wage directive. The minimum wage, which is too low, is expensive for the general public because employees have to top up their income and there is a risk of poverty in old age, says Wagenknecht.