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Germany has long been a country with relatively low levels of inequality in the past. European countries in general have some of the lowest inequality numbers when compared to other OECD countries with similar GDP’s. This is mainly contributed to the fact that European countries tend to focus on wealth distribution and maintaining lower levels of wealth centralization than many other countries around the world. Until recently, Germany has been no different than its European counterparts with relatively low levels of inequality. Since the mid-1990s, however, income inequality has increased more sharply in Germany than in many other European countries. Now in Germany, we are beginning to see the rise of inequality in two different areas, wealth and income inequality, as well as gender and social inequality.
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History
Many of the inequalities that Germany is experiencing today can be traced back to the reunification of East and West Germany. It was during this time that Eastern German manufacturing and social constructs lagged behind that of the west. Eastern German policies mainly reflected that of a communist nation since they were being funded and governed by a communist Russian regime. Due to these policies and regulatory practices, eastern manufacturing struggled during reunification. Along with this struggle came the first onsets of inequality in manufacturing. The east was significantly behind in manufacturing technology, this led to the demise of many eastern businesses. Due to these shut downs, many eastern Germans found themselves unemployed or significantly underemployed.
Income and Wealth Inequality
Today Germany is beginning to experience the highest levels of inequality since reunification. Wealth and income inequality between former East and West Germany continues today even after reunification. On average adults in the former West Germany have assets worth 94,000 euros as compared to the adults in the former communist East Germany which have just over 40,000 euros in assets. According to a study by Germany's DIW think tank, the richest one percent of people in Germany have personal wealth of at least 800,000 euros ($1.09 million), over 25% of adults have either no wealth or negative wealth because of debt that they hold. Germany's Gini coefficient was 0.78 in 2012. That was compared with 0.68 in France, 0.61 in Italy and 0.45 in Slovakia. When using the Gini coefficient a score of 0 indicates no inequality and a score of 1.0 represents maximum inequality.
Gender and Social Inequality
Gender inequality is another area of inequality in Germany that has been widening since reunification. According to Germany's Federal Statistical Office, the German city of Wiesbaden presented figures showing that average gross hourly earnings for women in 2008 were 23.2 percent lower than that of their male counterparts. In the entire country of Germany the average female employee earns 23.1% less than the average male employee. In comparison, the average gap for the EU overall is at 16.4%. Women in Germany are also fulfilling traditional gender roles by occupying jobs that have been traditionally dominated by women such as healthcare, teaching and education, as well as social services and humanities. Meanwhile, men are occupying jobs that have traditionally male dominated such as engineering, law enforcement, and manufacturing. Social inequality in Germany occurs mainly in the form of racism from Neo-Nazi groups such as the Artgemeinschaft. Since reunification 149 people have died from right-wing extremists.