German Social Issues

Today, Germany is one of the leading countries in the European Union, an economic powerhouse with many different multi-national corporations, as well as solid opportunities for foreign investment and expansion. Although unified Germany has succeeded in rebuilding itself after more than a century of turmoil, political unrest, and war, there are still a number of problems that the German government and its people face today. These German social issues include everything from poverty and unemployment to social equality issues for women. While these social ills represent clear and persistent problems in the German way of life, many are working to cure them, and it is only a matter of time before suitable solutions are found and implemented.

Two of the biggest German social issues today are poverty and unemployment. Despite the strength of the German economy—with the fifth highest gross domestic product (GDP) in the world, the highest in Europe—many Germans are impoverished and unemployed. Between 1965 and 2007, the number of children dependant on welfare has increased 1,250%. Germany also currently has a comparatively high unemployment level, which worries German citizens and officials alike.

Another of the German social issues that continues to plague the nation is the inequality between men and women in the job market. The traditional role that women filled in the German social order was that of Kinder, Küche, and Kirche—Children, Kitchen, and Church. During the reign of the Nazi party in Germany during the 1940s this was especially true; many women were bribed, bullied, or otherwise compelled to leave their jobs, and the number of females in the German work force has never recovered. Today, the number of women filling upper and middle management positions in Germany is conspicuously low—only 9.2%. However, women have made significant gains recently. They are now able to serve in the Bundeswehr, the German military, and the first female chancellor, Angela Merkel, was elected to her office in 2005.

Few the German social issues concerning Germany are as serious as those related to immigration. Due to the large influx of new immigrants every day, the federal government has taken over the responsibilities of cleaning, feeding, housing, and employing all of these new Germans. The state actually runs integration schools, where they teach courses on German culture. There has also been some talk of civil rights violations, as the German government has been assigning ID cards to certain groups of new immigrants, especially those from African or Muslim nations.

Although Germany is by no means perfect, the nature and severity of the German social issues are manageable if solutions can be found.