4 ms·

German perspective: Wow, what a dramatic shift in Eastern Germany! Maybe it is just a general upwards trend in Germany with little room for improvement in South

by netrus 8y ago

German perspective: Wow, what a dramatic shift in Eastern Germany! Maybe it is just a general upwards trend in Germany with little room for improvement in Southern Germany, but it might also be the beginning of the end of Eastern Germany's under performance. I will certainly investigate further.

k__ 8y ago
When I saw the chart I thought: "Well, Germany doesn't look too bad, funny that the people in Eastern Germany always complain."
Cthulhu_ 8y ago
I think it could do with an extra dimension for eastern Germany, e.g. wages or relative wealth; having low unemployment is good, but if there's a big wage / wealth discrepancy between east and west there's still room for improvement.
- nraynaud 8y ago
  That’s the whole debate, by forcing people to take one euro jobs, you lower the unemployment stats while increasing your poverty stats.
- ptaipale 8y ago
  I would expect that the discrepancy that matters - wages vs. cost of living - has much bigger difference if you go from East Germany to Poland, Czech Republic or Slovakia, rather than in comparison to West Germany. I.e. purchasing power drops much more when you go east, compared to going west.
cleansy 8y ago
I am from Brandenburg originally and am very surprised that Berlins unemployment rate is higher than Brandenburg's?! I checked statista[1][2] and indeed, it is. When I grew up it was around 18%. 1: https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/2519/umfrage/entwicklung-der-arbeitslosenquote-in-berlin-seit-1999/ https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/2519/umfrage/... 2: https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/762452/umfrage/arbeitslosenquote-in-brandenburg/ https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/762452/umfrag...
- dx034 8y ago
  People moving away from the countryside to cities could be a big factor. That leaves rural areas with a lot of older folks (that don't count as unemployed) while jobseekers are in bigger cities. Why should you be unemployed in rural Brandenburg when you could as well move to Berlin where there's a higher chance for a job? That could also explain why the rate in Northeastern Germany has decreased that much, both areas are mostly rural.

by netrus 8y ago

k__ 8y ago

When I saw the chart I thought: "Well, Germany doesn't look too bad, funny that the people in Eastern Germany always complain."

Cthulhu_ 8y ago

I think it could do with an extra dimension for eastern Germany, e.g. wages or relative wealth; having low unemployment is good, but if there's a big wage / wealth discrepancy between east and west there's still room for improvement.

nraynaud 8y ago
That’s the whole debate, by forcing people to take one euro jobs, you lower the unemployment stats while increasing your poverty stats.
ptaipale 8y ago
I would expect that the discrepancy that matters - wages vs. cost of living - has much bigger difference if you go from East Germany to Poland, Czech Republic or Slovakia, rather than in comparison to West Germany. I.e. purchasing power drops much more when you go east, compared to going west.

cleansy 8y ago

I am from Brandenburg originally and am very surprised that Berlins unemployment rate is higher than Brandenburg's?! I checked statista[1][2] and indeed, it is. When I grew up it was around 18%. 1: https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/2519/umfrage/entwicklung-der-arbeitslosenquote-in-berlin-seit-1999/ https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/2519/umfrage/... 2: https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/762452/umfrage/arbeitslosenquote-in-brandenburg/ https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/762452/umfrag...

dx034 8y ago
People moving away from the countryside to cities could be a big factor. That leaves rural areas with a lot of older folks (that don't count as unemployed) while jobseekers are in bigger cities. Why should you be unemployed in rural Brandenburg when you could as well move to Berlin where there's a higher chance for a job? That could also explain why the rate in Northeastern Germany has decreased that much, both areas are mostly rural.