1. Home
  2. Studies
  3. Wage and Income Mobility in Germany
Holger Schäfer / Jörg Schmidt / Christoph Schröder IW-Trends No. 1 25. March 2013 Wage and Income Mobility in Germany

Causes, Interdependences and Empirical Findings

Download PDF
Wage and Income Mobility in Germany
Holger Schäfer / Jörg Schmidt / Christoph Schröder IW-Trends No. 1 25. March 2013

Wage and Income Mobility in Germany

German Economic Institute (IW) German Economic Institute (IW)

Causes, Interdependences and Empirical Findings

While wage mobility in Germany has remained constant over time, income mobility has tended to decline. Nevertheless, every third advance in income level stems from a change in wage level. The overall decline in income mobility is evident in almost all types of household and also is largely independent of employment status. However, within the last few years those entering or returning to the labour market have been able to buck the downward trend. For both earnings and equivalised incomes, a high level of education leads to an increased chance of advancement and to a reduced danger of falling back. The chances of advancement are most improved by taking up gainful employment after a period without it. In this respect, there has been no substantial change since 2005. In addition the influence of wage mobility on income mobility has not significantly weakened since the middle of the 2000s.

Download | PDF

Download PDF
Wage and Income Mobility in Germany
Holger Schäfer / Jörg Schmidt / Christoph Schröder IW-Trends No. 1 25. March 2013

Wage and Income Mobility in Germany

German Economic Institute (IW) German Economic Institute (IW)

More on the topic

Read the article
Attitudes towards social mobility
Maximilian Stockhausen IW-Report No. 58 18. November 2023

IW Distribution Report 2023: Attitudes towards social mobility

Fundamentally linked to the social market economy is the idea that everyone has the opportunity for social advancement, regardless of their social background, and that children should be better off than their parents.

IW

Read the article
Matthias Diermeier / Madeleine F. Fischer / Judith Niehues in SOEP papers External Publication 20. March 2023

Punching up or Punching down?: How Stereotyping the Rich and the Poor Impacts Redistributive Preferences in Germany

Redistribution and the welfare state have been linked by academic discourse to narratives that portray specific societal groups as ‘deserving’ or ‘undeserving’. The present analysis contributes to this scholarship in a twofold manner.

IW

More about this topic

Content element with id 8880 Content element with id 9713