How has life in 'East Germany' changed in the last 20 years?

Question

Are there still differences between East and West?

Do West Germans have a different opinion of East Germans and vice versa?

Answer 1

There are still quite a number of differences. For example, on average, the Eastern states are much less well-off financially and are being heavily subsidised by the Western ones.

This causes a lot of arguments (amongst citizens as well as politically) as with every rule, there are exceptions. There are cities in Northrhine-Westphalia for example, especially along the Ruhr river, that are much poorer than others in the East, which have become thriving economic centres. People there tend to feel it is unfair nobody's subsidising them.

Another issue that shows the difference between East and West is that young, well educated women are leaving their Eastern home towns because there are more and better jobs in the West.

Political attitudes also vary greatly, in Eastern Germany, socialist political positions are much more well-received than in the west. Just this weekend, a new socialist party was founded that hopes to counter this trend and unite a "new left" all over the country.

Answer 2

Difference number one: Pay. On average workers in the East recieve between 80 and 90 percent of what their colleagues do - even within the same company.

The number of people who recieve minium wage or are on social welfare is also significantly higher. A competent, fully trained construction worker might get paid around 600 EUR (brutto) in the East - the same work in the West could get the worker around 1600-2000 EUR (brutto).

I went for 3 job interviews in the last six months (I'm an office worker and accountant) - the job in Augsburg was 2200 EUR brutto and the  jobs in my home town were 1400 and 400 EUR respectively for roughly the same work. Go figure!

Second biggest difference is distributon of personal wealth. In the West lots of people got reasonable wealthy in the 1950's. They built houses which they now pass on to their children. If their East German counterparts of the same generation die, they do not leave anything behind. Rather their children are often deprived of a second source of income - the old people's pensions.

Why is this so: Basically the whole East German economy was in 1990 put into the same position the West German economy was in 1945.

Real estate prices are much lower in the East too - on the other hand child care for children under 6 is readily available in the east.