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Foreigners in Germany earn an average of 900 euros less per month than national citizens. Newcomers from Serbia and the region are still better off there than those from Syria or Afghanistan. Experts have an explanation for the big differences.
Foreigners employed in Germany earn much less than domestic citizens, according to statistics from the Federal Labor Agency. While German citizens had an average monthly income of 3,509 euros gross last year, that is, before paying taxes and contributions, that value was 2,614 euros for foreigners. That’s even for 895 euros or a quarter less, writes “Deutsche Welle” (DW).
This is not the average, but the median call, the value below and above which is exactly half of all income. Unlike the average, this value mitigates the impact of very low and especially very high wages and is calculated to speak better of the standard of the “common” man.
Foreigners do lower paid jobs
The difference between Germans and foreigners is especially drastic when it comes to newcomers from Syria, Afghanistan or Eritrea who earn 1,475 euros less than locals.
The statistics were released by the Federal Government in response to a parliamentary inquiry by Alternative for Germany. It is especially remarkable how much the differences have increased in previous years, so in 2010 the difference was 11.6 percent (317 euros).
The difference cannot be attributed only to education, because it exists even among unskilled workers: foreigners receive 415 euros less than Germans. Unskilled workers in Serbia and the region earn € 208 less per month, while people from refugee countries earn € 657 less per month.
Only 16 percent of all German employees work in the so-called “low-wage sector”, while the proportion of foreigners is 37 percent.
Does migration reduce income?
The German government explains the difference in wages by the fact that foreign workers tend to have less experience and knowledge. According to the government’s response, hiring more foreigners could have a “pressure effect on median incomes.”
“People who have just moved to Germany are starting their careers,” says Herbert Bricker of the Labor Agency’s Institute for Labor Market Research. “Their salaries will grow significantly during their careers,” he told the agency. dpa, reports DW.
Rene Springer, a deputy from Alternative for Germany who did this investigation to the government, says that “immigration should not lead to wage dumping.” Her party is strongly against mass immigration, mainly the reception of asylum seekers.
Bricker says that “the arrival of migrants only has a marginal impact on wages.”
The differences, according to the Berlin government, can be reduced by the legally prescribed minimum wage that has existed for several years, and by encouraging foreigners to study in Germany.
According to the Federal Labor Agency, in the last month of last year, 21 million domestic citizens and three million foreigners had a full-time job in Germany.
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