Study on careers: East Germans rarely make it to the executive floor

The figurehead has had its day: Angela Merkel headed the federal government for 16 years, symbolizing the opportunities for advancement for people with East German socialization.

But the reality is different, even three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification, as a recent study shows.

According to this, a comparison with earlier surveys shows "that the advancement of East Germans into elite positions that was expected in recent years hardly takes place".

On the other hand, in many areas of society such as politics, business, the media, but also in science, the proportions stagnated, and depending on the position considered, they even declined.

According to the study, which was carried out as part of an MDR project and in cooperation with the Institute for Communication and Media Studies at the University of Leipzig, a stable move-up at a low level is visible in the results only in the judiciary.

Data from the period October 2021 to April 2022 was compared with surveys from 2004 and 2016.

East Germans are those who were primarily socialized in the GDR or in the East German states after the reunification.

Far removed from the proportion of the population

Overall, the authors come to the conclusion that the proportion of East Germans in the federal German elite has risen from just under 2 to around 3.5 percent.

For managerial positions, especially in eastern Germany, the value climbed from 23 to 26 percent.

Overall, however, these proportions are "still far removed from the corresponding population proportions of East Germans at the respective level," according to the classification.

"The low representation of East Germans in the elites, as indicated by the developments in the data, is becoming more and more stable." could be found.

In the search for the reasons for the lack of advancement of East Germans, the scientists came across an explanation pattern: Accordingly, careers of elites outside of Berlin mainly take place in the West German states.

Since this also applies to East Germans, their chances of rising from the East are reduced.

This means that elite selection still takes place primarily in the West.

The authors of the study took a detailed look at the business elite.

The managing directors and the chairmen of the board of the 100 largest companies in East Germany were taken into account, as well as their deputies.

In addition, the board members of the companies listed in the most important stock market index, the Dax.

It shows that the companies are mainly dominated by managers from western Germany: two thirds come from the west, only one fifth comes from the east – the latter figure is only six percentage points above that of foreign executives.

After the proportion of East German executives rose from 20 to 25 percent between 2004 and 2016, there has been a decline since then.

A similar picture emerges at the second management level:

27 percent for East Germans versus 59 percent for West Germans and foreigners.

As a result, the assumption from the past that East Germans have good opportunities for advancement, at least in the extended management circle, has not come true.

More and more branches of the west

The authors of the study point to a further development in this context: Of the 100 largest companies in the East considered, only just under 40 percent also have their headquarters in the East.

In 2016, the value was still 49 percent.

“So the largest East German companies are more and more often subsidiaries of non-East German corporations.

Since these groups often fill the management of subsidiaries with young people and specialists from their group structure, the chances for East Germans are to be assessed as lower and only 13 percent led by East Germans.

In 2016 it was still 29 percent.

The lower economic power of East Germany also has a significant impact on the Federal German business elite and their Eastern share.

Not a single East German company is listed in the Dax premium index, which has meanwhile expanded to 40 members.

Most of them are based in Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Baden-Württemberg.

Also, none of the 40 CEOs currently come from one of the eastern German states.

If you expand the circle, among the 247 board members of these companies examined in 2016, there were just three East Germans.

By the reporting date of the survey, there were only two, the study states.