The German economy continues to recover, and will grow by 2.2 percent in 2015 and by 1.9 percent in 2016. The unemployment rate will further decline, to 6.4 percent this year and 6.1percent in 2016. Inflation, which averages 0.5 percent this year, will be substantially dampened by the slump in...

The prominence of part-time employment has dramatically increased both in Germany and across Europe. Germany has experienced above- average growth and currently the prevalence of part-time employment there also exceeds the EU average. Evidently, this involves fundamental structural change as...

The enlargement of the EU in 2004 has had numerous effects- and the German labor market has not been left untouched. Among migrant laborers coming to Germany, self-employment has been the most frequent form of labor market participation to date. Despite barriers to immigration and the need to...

The economic gap between eastern and western Germany is still sizeable, even 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In terms of GDP per inhabitant and productivity, eastern Germany has attained nearly three-quarters of western German levels, respectively. Since some years, the catch-up...

An increasing share of the working-age population is active in the German labor market. In particular, the number of women participating in the labor force has grown. The more highly qualified they are, the greater their participation in the labor market — and the level of qualification among...

Greece has been living beyond its means for a long time now and has accumulated foreign debt. The high level of national debt is merely a reflection of the problems; the actual cause is insufficient economic power. The top-priority political objective is to strengthen the substance of the...

Youth unemployment in Germany has fallen to its lowest level since reunification. Between 2005 and 2012, unemployment among under 25 year olds has more than halved. By international standards, Germany is in an exceptionally strong position. Nowhere in Europe is youth unemployment lower. However,...

The European Monetary Union brought with it a standardization of monetary policy and a system of fixed exchange rates. This was accompanied by disincentive effects which, in turn, resulted in serious economic distortions. Proposals are currently being made - not only by DIW Berlin - as to how...

There is no let up in complaints about a potential lack of engineers in Germany. The Association of German Engineers (Verein Deutscher Ingenieure, VDI) recently declared that because of the high average age of engineers working in Germany (50 to 51), there will soon be a huge demand for a new...

The significance of the manufacturing sector for the economies of both the European Union and the euro area has declined dramatically over the past ten years. However, development varied between the individual member states, which is particularly evident in a comparison between France and...