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Track work: Employment is the main source of income
Photo: Christoph Hardt / Future Image / IMAGO
The vast majority of adults in Germany earn their living primarily through their own employment. This applies to a good three quarters (76 percent) of people of prime working age between 25 and 64, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Tuesday. That corresponds to 34.5 million people. For eight percent of this age group, support from relatives, such as their partner, was the main source of income. Six percent financed themselves primarily through unemployment benefit I or citizens' benefit. Another five percent received pensions or pensions, one percent received parental allowance and three percent received other support such as social assistance or sick pay. Every hundredth person financed themselves primarily from their own assets, capital gains or income from renting and leasing.
“There were major differences between men and women regarding the source of the majority of their livelihood,” it said. While 83 percent of men aged 25 to 64 received their living resources from their own work, this was the case for only 69 percent of women. Women, on the other hand, reported 13 percent of support from relatives (men: two percent) and two percent of parental allowance (men: 0.1 percent) as their main livelihood. There are smaller differences between the genders when it comes to other sources of income such as unemployment benefit I and citizen's benefit.
Citizens who have immigrated to Germany since 1950 made their living primarily from their own employment, with a share of two thirds (67 percent) to a lesser extent. For people without an immigration history it is 80 percent. “The difference is particularly clear among immigrant women,” say the statisticians. Of them, only a good half (55 percent) state their own employment as the predominant source of livelihood. For women without an immigration history the figure is 74 percent. Among men, the difference between immigrants (78 percent) and people without a history of immigration (85 percent) was smaller.
“The reasons for the deviations include differences in age and household structures, professional qualifications and opportunities for entry and promotion in the labor market,” explained the statisticians. "The deviations also vary depending on the region of origin." Significantly smaller differences can be seen among the second generation of immigrants - i.e. among children of parents who both immigrated since 1950.
mik/Reuters