NY Times: Bavaria Booms, but Germans Feel Economic Malaise

[marmar]

Bavaria Booms, but Germans Feel Economic Malaise
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN

Published: December 24, 2010


ERLANGEN-HÖCHSTADT, Germany — By nearly every measure this industrial region in Bavaria, home to exporting giants like Siemens Healthcare, Adidas and Puma, is at the center of Germany’s resilient economic success, driving the nation’s growth even as much of Europe struggles to stay solvent.

With an unemployment rate of 3.5 percent and Christmas markets full of shoppers and revelers, “Bavaria is the planet of the happy,” said Katrin Schmidt, a labor analyst with the Federal Employment Agency based in Nuremberg.

Except that many people in this region, and around the nation, seem subdued and uncertain about their own financial health. Germany’s good fortune, however conspicuous to other Europeans, is widely viewed here as having come at the expense of its workers, who for the past decade have sacrificed wages and benefits to make their employers more competitive. “I don’t believe that the economic situation really improved,” said Karl-Hans Diem, a 60-year-old metal worker.

This disconnect — bullish economic indicators combined with simmering discontent even among the employed — is at the core of the conflict between Germany and some of its euro zone allies over how to handle the continuing European financial crisis. German leaders have been confronted with the opposing forces of a strong economy and a work force that has seen its real wages, adjusted for inflation, decline over the past decade. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/25/world/europe/25germany.html?_r=1&hp

[CBHagman]

1. Thanks for posting.

It helps to have the perspective.

[tabasco]

2. Germany is becoming more like the US

More power to corporations and less rights to people.