Eastern Germany

30 years after the reunification a positive balance can be drawn. The economic “reconstruction of the East” has largely been completed. Driven by politics and supported by private investment, productivity and wages have risen sharply in the new Länder over the past 30 years. From less than 50 percent of the western German level in 1991, eastern German wages have worked their way up to over 80 percent of the western German average.

Ampelmännchen in Berlin Ost
Ampelmännchen in Berlin Ost

Today, the east-west divide runs elsewhere: in demographic change. This poses challenges for further development in eastern Germany. How do companies find qualified employees or future managers? How is social cohesion to be ensured in an aging and shrinking population? How should politics distribute scarce funds to growing cities and shrinking villages? What does the “equivalence of living conditions” aspired to in Germany’s constitution mean in view of diverging demographic trends?

“Eastern German companies need more immigrants from abroad in order to close gaps in skilled labor. They must actively recruit them.””

Prof. Dr. Marcel Thum, Director of ifo Dresden

Contact
Portraitbild Prof. Joachim Ragnitz

Prof. Dr. Joachim Ragnitz

Managing Director ifo Dresden
Tel
+49(0)351/26476-17
Fax
+49(0)351/26476-20
Mail
ragnitz@ifo.de
Portraitbild Prof. Marcel Thum

Prof. Dr. Marcel Thum

Director ifo Dresden
Tel
+49(0)351/26476-19
Fax
+49(0)351/26476-20
Mail
thum@ifo.de
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