Talk:Economy of Germany

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Accoring to the CIA World Factbook [1], Germany now has the 5th largest economy worldwide

Germany has the third largest economy when based on nominal GDP.

Contents

[edit] exchange rates

Is it just me, or are the exchange rates flipped? (ie: it should be 1.69 DEM = 1 USD instead of 1.69 USD = 1 DEM)

[edit] Manufacturing?

Germany has a tradition for quality manufacturing. I was told this once. Is it still true? What does germany actually produce? Anyone got a list of national statistics amd major firms which might usefully be included?Sandpiper 4 July 2005 19:05 (UTC)

No, I don't think there is such a "tradition" anymore. Germany still does a huge amount of "quality" manufacturing. Germany produces pretty much everything, but automotive stuff is normally quoted as the flagship industry. But like any modern rich country, it's primarily a service economy. The proportion of people employed in manufacturing has fallen from 40% to 20% in the last 30 years, and it will continue to fall (source: The Economist) 82.45.37.106 11:28, 7 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Prostitution?

I fail to see the relevance of this section in the article. I don't believe prostitution is a major part of Germany's economy (and neither this section nor the main article provide any evidence that it is). Considering that there aren't even links to major German industries such as the automotive industry, i propose this section should be dropped. --35.11.210.158 02:18, 29 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Unemployment figure

On the German model page a Forbes article states that German unemployment is 12.6%. Here it says 10.5%. Perhaps a choice should be made for consistency with the article being added to external links if the IMF figure is chosen? --JDnCoke 01:03, August 18, 2005 (UTC)

The unemployment rate is now approx. 9.2% according to Bloomberg.com/regions/Germany.

It appears as if the current number is taken from the CIA World Factbook, which I think might not be the best choice, as it usually uses the numbers given out by the country's census bureau. It might be more helpful to take a standardized value, like the OECD publishes every year (9.8% in 2004). [2]

Germany's Federal Employment Agency compiles official unemployment figures. For December 2007 they recorded a much improved unemployment rate of 8.1%. Germany's unemployment rate hasnt been at 6.2% for years and the Wikipedia article is mistaken for listing that as the rate for July 2007. Here is the link to the latest figures on unemployment in Germany: [3]

I dont know how to fix the article so someone who knows how can fix it. 11:52, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Nominal vs. PPP

As with other wikipedia articles this one suffers from contradiction in GDP rank discussion because of ambiguity with regard to type of measure (nominal/PPP), so it is better to make this distinction explicit. - A.Rod (22:12 8 October 2005, (UTC))


I really think a nominal figure should be provided alongside (or instead of) the PPP figure. 202.130.159.184 (talk) 03:25, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Quality

Is it just me, or does the quality of this article quite poor? There is no structure, no sections, and the paragraph topics seem fragmented. This article could use a general clean up.

[edit] Mistakes

When you click on "social services" in this article, which refers to services offered by the government, it redirects you to the article "social work," aka, a type of volunteering. I am new so I don't know how to edit the article but maybe someone more knowledgeable could.

[edit] Poverty

The table has an entry "Pop below poverty line". It should be noted that most country use different ways to measure where that line is. Lars T. 00:23, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Tourism

According to official numbers published by the German National Tourist Office (numbers of 2004), Germans spent 58,1 billion EUR abroad, while international visitors to Germany spent about 21 billion EUR (look here: [4]). Sorry, I was not able to find another source reporting of spendings in the magnitude of millions. In 2000, Germans hit the road about 300 million times, 97 million times they travelled to a foreign country (at least one accomodation, source: [5]). If you divide US$ 68.3 million by the number of 97 million visitors, you'll get a pretty small amount.

If you devide the 58.1 billion EUR by 97 million, you get 765 U.S. dollars. Compared to what Americans have to pay for a vacation abroad that may be small, but Germans don't have to fly 5 hours to get to another country. Lars T. 15:38, 26 May 2006 (UTC)
OK, the original source had the numbers in millions, but it seems like your source (I can't read German, but I'll trust you) says otherwise. Perhaps the authors of the LOC profile got the magnitude confused. I think the German National Tourist office is a more reliable source, so I agree that we should go with their figures.--Bkwillwm 22:42, 27 May 2006 (UTC)
Actually, the first comment here (by you?) says 58,1 billion EUR. There could be a confusion by the fact that the quoted source actually says 58,1 Mrd. Euro, which means 58.1 Milliard Euro, or 58.1 billions for the US Americans. Lars T. 12:44, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] silly

( In the United States the comparitavely high imprisonment rate - between six and ten times higher than in Western Europe - and the higher rate of persons in the military forces are other reasons for the lower unemployment rate.)

haha! what a joke!--Capsela 18:01, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Extremely US-centric

Is it just me, or is this article extremely US-centric ? It reads a lot more like a "Economy_of_Germany_seen_from_USA" --Eivind 09:23, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

I have noticed that...but then America is the only 'real' country in the world, right? ;) Some re-arranging would produce a more German centric article (which I will do now), but new content would help. More central for Germany would be German-EU trade. Matchrthom 18:20, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Unhelpful article.

This reads a lot like the CIA factbook section on Germany, it's like someone just pasted it here and rephrased each paragraph...--80.227.100.62 06:12, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] History of indicators

 Please help improve this article or section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (June 2007)

It would be useful to have charts showing changes in key indicators like GDP, growth rate, and unemployment, over several decades. -- Beland 20:22, 28 May 2007 (UTC)