German rich get richer , German poor get poorer

We have often reported on the growing gap between the rich and the poor in the UK and the USA. And it is the same in Germany. A report by the DIW Institute of Economic Research "...clearly shows that not only have the numbers of rich and poor been rising, but households have been getting poorer for 10 years"

A single person in the poorest income bracket earned an adjusted 680 euros a month ($912) on average 10 years ago but just 645 euros in 2008, the report found. Meanwhile, the average for the higher income brackets rose to 2,700 from 2,400 euros.Only 60 percent of Germans make a net monthly income of 860 to 1,844 euros -- down from 66 percent in 2000. The number of low-income earners rose to almost 22 percent in 2009 from 18 percent in 2000.

"We saw a 'relative polarization' in the years up until 1999 - that means that the percentage of people in these two areas, the very rich and the very poor, has risen, but there was also a rise in the lowest incomes," Goebel told Deutsche Welle. "But in the years from 2000, we have seen a so-called 'absolute polarization' - that means there were not only more people in these lower and upper brackets, but their incomes also drifted further apart. The poor got poorer, and the rich got richer."