Editing German reunification (section)

==Assessment==
===Cost of reunification===
The subsequent economic restructuring and reconstruction of [[eastern Germany]] resulted in significant costs, especially for [[western Germany]], which paid large sums of money in the form of the {{langx|de|Solidaritätszuschlag|label=none}} ({{IPA|de|zolidaʁiˈtɛːt͡st͡suːˌʃlaːk|lang|De-Solidaritätszuschlag.ogg}}, ''Solidarity Surcharge'') in order to rebuild the east German infrastructure. In addition, the immensely advantageous exchange rate of 1:1 between the West German Deutschmark to the East German mark meant that East Germans could trade in their almost worthless marks for and receive wages in West German currency. This dealt a major blow to the West German budget in the coming few years.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Judt |first=Tony |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/61303516 |title=Postwar : a history of Europe since 1945 |publisher=Penguin Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-59420-065-6 |location=New York |pages=638 |oclc=61303516 |access-date=6 March 2022 |archive-date=13 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240213044020/https://search.worldcat.org/title/61303516 |url-status=live }}</ref> The cost of German reunification for the federal government is estimated to be between 1.5 and 2 trillion euros.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-09-21 |title=Ost-Förderung: Deutsche Einheit kostet 2.000.000.000.000 Euro - WELT |url=https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article127595786/Deutsche-Einheit-kostet-2-000-000-000-000-Euro.html |access-date=2024-06-19 |website=[[Welt (TV channel)|Welt]] |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=C. Burda |first=Michael |date=2001 |title=From Reunification to Economic Integration: Productivity and the Labor Market in Eastern Germany |url=https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2001/06/2001b_bpea_burda.pdf |journal=[[Brookings Papers on Economic Activity]] |volume=2 |pages=11}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=SPIEGEL|first=DER|title=Interview with Former German Finance Minister : 'Germans Will Have to Pay'|url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/interview-with-former-german-finance-minister-germans-will-have-to-pay-a-785704.html|access-date=2021-06-25|newspaper=Der Spiegel|date=12 September 2011|language=en|archive-date=6 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306170511/https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/interview-with-former-german-finance-minister-germans-will-have-to-pay-a-785704.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Views and life satisfaction===
{{See also|Ostalgie}}
According to a 2019 survey conducted by [[Pew Research Center]], 89 percent of Germans living in both the West and East believe that reunification was good for Germany, with slightly more in East than West Germany supporting it.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wike |first1=Richard |last2=Poushter |first2=Jacob |last3=Silver |first3=Laura |last4=Devlin |first4=Kat |last5=Fetterolf |first5=Janell |last6=Castillo |first6=Alexandra |last7=Huang |first7=Christine |title=Germans view unification positively but feel the East has been left behind |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2019/10/15/european-public-opinion-three-decades-after-the-fall-of-communism/pg_10-15-19-europe-values-01-010/ |website=Pew Research Center {{!}} Global Attitudes and Trends |publisher=Pew Research Center |date=9 October 2019 |access-date=21 July 2020 |archive-date=6 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306171004/https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2019/10/15/european-public-opinion-three-decades-after-the-fall-of-communism/pg_10-15-19-europe-values-01-010/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Around 83 percent of East Germans approve of and 13 percent disapprove of eastern Germany's transition to a [[market economy]], with the rest saying they were not sure.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wike |first1=Richard |last2=Poushter |first2=Jacob |last3=Silver |first3=Laura |last4=Devlin |first4=Kat |last5=Fetterolf |first5=Janell |last6=Castillo |first6=Alexandra |last7=Huang |first7=Christine |title=Most in former Eastern Bloc approve of shift to multiparty and free market systems |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2019/10/15/european-public-opinion-three-decades-after-the-fall-of-communism/pg_10-15-19-europe-values-00-014/ |website=Pew Research Center {{!}} Global Attitudes and Trends |publisher=Pew Research Center |date=9 October 2019 |access-date=21 July 2020 |archive-date=6 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306171002/https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2019/10/15/european-public-opinion-three-decades-after-the-fall-of-communism/pg_10-15-19-europe-values-00-014/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Life satisfaction in both the East and West has substantially increased since 1991, with 15 percent of East Germans placing their life satisfaction somewhere between 7 and 10 on a 0 to 10 scale in 1991, changing to 59 percent in 2019. For West Germans, this change over the same time period was from 52 to 64 percent.<ref name="wikeetal2019">{{Cite web |last1=Wike |first1=Richard |last2=Poushter |first2=Jacob |last3=Silver |first3=Laura |last4=Devlin |first4=Kat |last5=Fetterolf |first5=Janell |last6=Alex |last7=Castillo |first7=ra |last8=Huang |first8=Christine |date=2019-10-15 |title=European Public Opinion Three Decades After the Fall of Communism |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2019/10/15/european-public-opinion-three-decades-after-the-fall-of-communism/ |access-date=2022-03-05 |website=Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project |language=en-US |archive-date=6 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306171000/https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2019/10/15/european-public-opinion-three-decades-after-the-fall-of-communism/ |url-status=live }}</ref> However, the 2019 annual reunification report by the German government found that 57% East Germans felt like second-class citizens, and 38% saw the reunification as a success – this figure declined to 20% amongst people under 40.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN1WA1XB/ |title=30 years after fall of Berlin Wall, East Germans feel inferior |date=25 September 2019 |website=[[Reuters]] |first=Madeline |last=Chambers}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Former East Germany still lags behind west |date=25 September 2019 |website=[[Deutsche Welle]] |url=https://www.dw.com/en/former-east-germany-still-lags-behind-west/a-50583236 |access-date=29 January 2024 |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129062842/https://www.dw.com/en/former-east-germany-still-lags-behind-west/a-50583236 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2023, a poll found that 40% of East Germans identify as ''East Germans'' rather than German which was 52%.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.infratest-dimap.de/umfragen-analysen/bundesweit/umfragen/aktuell/33-jahre-wiedervereinigung/ | title=33 Jahre Wiedervereinigung }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/07/east-germany-west-far-right-afd-gdr | title=What's 'wrong' with east Germany? Look to its long neglect by the wealthy west | newspaper=The Guardian | date=7 March 2024 | last1=Hoyer | first1=Katja }}</ref>

Additionally, German reunification was useful in generating wealth for those Eastern [[household]] households who already had ties with the West. Those who lived in West Germany and had [[social ties]] to the East experienced a six percent average increase in their wealth in the six years following the fall of the Wall, which more than doubled that of households who did not possess the same connections.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Burchardi |first1=Konrad B |last2=Hassan |first2=Tarek A |date=2013-08-01 |title=The Economic Impact of Social Ties: Evidence from German Reunification* |url=https://academic.oup.com/qje/article/128/3/1219/1849933 |journal=The Quarterly Journal of Economics |language=en |volume=128 |issue=3 |pages=1219–1271 |doi=10.1093/qje/qjt009 |issn=0033-5533 |hdl=10419/150950 |hdl-access=free |access-date=7 December 2021 |archive-date=7 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207000827/https://academic.oup.com/qje/article/128/3/1219/1849933 |url-status=live }}</ref> Entrepreneurs who worked in areas with strong social ties to the East saw their [[income]]s increase as well. Incomes for this group increased at an average rate of 8.8 percent over the same six-year period following reunification. Similarly, those in the East who possessed connections to the West saw their household income increase at a positive rate in each of the six years following reunification.<ref name=":0" /> Those in their regions who lacked the same ties did not see this benefit.<ref name=":0" />

The fall of the Berlin Wall proved disastrous for the East German labour unions, whose bargaining power was undermined by labour reforms and companies offshoring production to low-wage East European neighbouring countries. Membership of trade unions and associations sharply declined in the mid-1990s, and collective wage and salary agreements became increasingly uncommon. As the result, average nominal compensation per employee in East Germany "fell to very low levels" after the unification. Labour reforms implemented after the unification focused on reducing costs for companies and dismantled East German wage and social security regulations in favour of incentivizing employers to create jobs. The low-wage sector in Germany expanded, and the share of employees in low-paid employment amounted to 20% of the workforce by 2009.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The long-term effects of German unification on wages, employment and growth: a trigger for a shift to a new market constellation |journal=European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention |volume=19 |issue=2 |year=2022 |pages=278–293 |publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. |first1=Heike |last1=Joebges |first2=Rudolf |last2=Zwiener |first3=Nora |last3=Albu}}</ref>