Inequality on the Rise in Germany

The 80-billion-euro austerity plan announced by Berlin for 2011 to 2014 is likely to deepen these last years’ growing gap between rich and poor in Germany, DIW, an institute for economic research, claimed in a survey published yesterday.

For the last ten years “the poor have become poorer and the rich even richer,” DIW researchers warn. “This trend worries the middle classes,” which are growing smaller. DIW researchers also point out that “the concrete measures so far announced are for the lower incomes only.”