anyone living in Germany/is German?

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If so, I would be so grateful if you could give me a few opinions to help with my german assignment. I have to write an essay (in german, which I will bite the bullet about myself) about the future, specifically what the economy and employment situation is there at the moment and how people are changing their life styles to adapt to this (eg not going abroad so much, environmental issues etc). So if you know anything about this - eg the level of unemployment and how people are adapting to the credit crunch/global environmental concerns, please could you post a quick couple of lines to educate me? Many thanks

bump

www.faz.de

www.ft.com/home/europe

Maybe you could find articles FAZ in German, FT in English, on those 2 pages.

I am German but have been living abroad for nearly ten years and no longer involved in whatever goes on on a political level, etc.

All in all I'd say German banks and institutions are very traditional and highly regulated so the exposure to suprime mortgage has been slim, -however as the US and the UK are going under there are repercussions for the German economy as it is the biggest exporting country in Europe (car manufacturers, technology firms, building companies, etc.)

The level of unemployment has shrunk from record highs under Schroeder to a smaller number under Merkel. For all vital statistics pls check: www.daeb.de/statistik/index.php

Still, with a very stable and high Euro export is shrinking, too. But it's not at an alarming rate and don't forget that Germany has excellent ties to China. That should help...

Germany and Germans are quite environmentally conscious and adhere to recycling, etc. They'll happily invest in new (green) technologies and building standards. etc. have incorporated a new green ethos. That didn't stop Merkel paying out subsidiaries to the coal industry (go figure...)

As you're able to read & write German I can only recommend you to read up articles in the FAZ or Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Good luck with your essay!

I'm British, living in SW Germany.

There is less on the news here regarding the credit crunch/gloabal economy although yesterdays news was full of the collapse of Lehman.

I think it depends where you are. I live in a very wealthy part of Germany with low unemployment. It is very noticable that people are well off here, this would be very different in the east or parts of the Ruhrgebiet I think.

People do not enter the property market here to make a quick profit. House prices fluctuate relatively little and people are amazed by the situation in the UK or US. As Alexa said, there is a lot more financial stability here.

I occasionally watch talk shows here and would say that the topics which seem to crop up constantly are: rising energy costs, rising food prices, unemployment benefits (these have been cut quite drastically in recent years and it's a lot harder to claim benefits), education, pensions (Germany has quite an aging population and pensioners form a powerful political lobby).

HTH and good luck with your essay.

thank you both so much - this will provide a useful personal touch to add to the stuff I have found on the internet.

Would like to add that I second taipo's view of regional differences in Germany. I am originally from the rich SW (think Porsche, Mercedes, Bosch, Metabo, etc)

I don't even want to go into the debate about Eastern Germany.

Home ownership generally is quite low in Germany. Think I read 30% or so. The SW of Germany is more traditional & home ownership much more the norm.

Oh yes, the Germans are always moaning about price increases (esp. food & fuel). But then again, which nation wouldn't?

I hope I am not too late with my contribution, but I lived in Germany in 2002-2004 and noticed a lot of couples with only one child or none (except for the turkish) and have seen programs about the troubling fertility rate and having to close down schools etc. My DH is German and his sister has one child and has made a conscious decision to stop there so she can get her career back on track. Some say the issue is that it takes so many long years of study to qualify to do anything that people don't want to sacrifice their career to have more than one child. Anyway, it is a sure way to mess up an economy especially the funding of pensions etc ... I did see more recently in Der Spiegel that there has been a mini boom in Berlin, but I don't think it has extended beyond that.