Germany on the same path as the USA

Wage and productivity growth in Germany

Via VoxEU

Some years back I wrote a post holding up Germany as a role model for the United States.  I said Germany’s policies showed that a nation can have a strong labor movement and a strong social safety net and yet have a growing economy and success in world markets.

I failed to recognize that Germany was and is following the same path as the United States—high profits, wage stagnation and financialization.  Germans are better off than Americans only because their starting point was higher when they started on the road to decline.

The chart shows that German productivity is increasing, just as in the United States, but German wage-earners aren’t getting the benefit of it.

Just like in the USA.

∞∞∞

I don’t have any exact comparisons, but the following charts show the general trend.

Source: Wikipedia.

 

Source: Marginal Revolution

Median female income growth was higher than for men, but started from a lower point.

If wealth is increasing, but the wages and incomes of average families are not, who is getting it?

 

Tags: Economic Austerity, German unemployment, German wage stagnation, Germany, Income and Productivity, Productivity, Wages, Wages Growth