More than half of the Hessians do not currently have to work themselves to finance their main livelihood.

In 2021, 55 percent of the Hessians actually did not get their main income from a salary or wages, but from pensions, pensions, state benefits or from relatives, as current figures from the State Statistical Office show.

They are based on the so-called microcensus, for which one percent of the population in Hesse is surveyed annually.

Falk Heunemann

Business editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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The rate of job financers is comparatively low because this calculation not only takes into account the employable population, but also, for example, children, young people, students and pensioners.

The figures also indicate which income was the most important source of income in each case.

The role of other additional income, such as government benefits, additional earnings or interest income, is not taken into account.

Fewer and fewer women are financially dependent

According to the microcensus results, the proportion of those who cover their financial needs primarily through their own work has even increased over the past two decades.

At the turn of the millennium, 42 percent were still living mainly from income from gainful employment; now it is 45 percent – ​​that is about as many as the national average.

This can mainly be explained by the fact that fewer and fewer women are financially dependent on other people, such as their husbands.

The proportion of women who live on their own wages rose from 34 percent to 40 percent today.

However, the rate is still lower than for men, where it is 50 percent.

A possible explanation for this is that single mothers, for example, do not have enough income from their own part-time work and are dependent on payments from the state or from family members.

In 2000, 39 percent of all Hessians made their living mainly from income from relatives, in 2021 it will be a quarter less.

65,000 Hessians live from their own assets

Around 1.6 million Hessians, that is one in four, depend on the support of relatives.

These are mainly children and young people, but every fifth woman who is able to work also relies primarily on family support.

The proportion of the population that depends on family money has fallen significantly over the past two decades.

In Hesse, however, this proportion is slightly higher than in the federal government, partly because more women are employed in eastern Germany than in western Germany.

Comparatively few retirees and pensioners, on the other hand, seem to be dependent on state or family support, 89 percent live on their pension insurance or their pension, almost two percent on their own assets.

In the case of annuities and pensions, it must be taken into account that the entitlements to them were acquired through gainful employment.

Every twelfth Hessian lives mainly on state benefits, such as unemployment benefits, Hartz IV or the Bafög training aid.

On the other hand, one percent of the population can apparently afford not to work as their main means of subsistence.

These Hessians primarily use money from their own assets, interest income or rental income.

This is extrapolated to around 65,000 people in a population of 6.5 million.

The rate of wealthy people in Hesse is just as high as the national average.