According to the Bertelsmann Foundation, many of the family-related benefits are still geared towards marital relationships.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin The disposable lifetime income in Germany still depends heavily on the type of household. This is especially true for women, as calculations from a study funded by the Bertelsmann Foundation show.
According to this, women can only earn a little more than half as much gross income as men over their entire working life. This gender gap in lifetime earnings, the so-called Gender Lifetime Earnings Gap, is even greater for mothers. The actual standard of living depends heavily on the family constellation and the welfare state benefits.
The study considers and simulates the data for the birth cohorts 1964 to 1985, each for the main working age, i.e. in the age range from 20 to 55 years of age. The disposable lifetime income is calculated after taxes and levies plus transfers and family benefits. The 1985 vintage offers the most up-to-date values.
In concrete terms: Today, married mothers and fathers in their mid-30s each have around 700,000 euros at their disposal in their main working age.
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Women, who are mostly single parents, only get around 520,000 euros and have to accept an average loss of around 25 percent compared to married mothers.
Mothers who have been married for a longer period of time and take care of the children after the separation are also affected: The disposable lifetime income of today’s mid-30-year-old single mothers is around 625,000 euros. This is around ten percent lower than that of married mothers.
The welfare state does not compensate for the loss of income of single parents
The study states: “If people – usually women – live alone with their children, they are to a greater extent dependent on their own gainful employment and direct state transfers, since the security provided by the partner’s income is partially or completely lost. “
However, the welfare state only insufficiently compensates for the loss of lifetime income of single parents. Example of parental allowance: Such family-specific transfers, which are not linked to marriage and partnership, compensate for the duration of the receipt to a certain extent for a loss of earned income. According to the study, however, they are not sufficient to compensate for the disadvantage resulting from career breaks and reduced working hours over the entire working life.
The author of the study, Timm Bönke, junior professor for public finance at the Freie Universität Berlin, criticizes: “Many of the family-related benefits are still geared towards marital cohabitation.” and lack of care options.
This not only sets strong incentives for a traditional division of roles, in which the woman takes on less paid work and more care work than the man. These services are inaccessible to single parents or unmarried couples.
Greater financial support for child-rearing periods
Manuela Barisic, labor market expert at the Bertelsmann Stiftung, demands: “Welfare state benefits that promote a specific way of life should be a thing of the past.” An important cornerstone would be greater financial support for child-rearing periods: this is the only way to eliminate disadvantages for different types of families.
>>> Also read: This is the average income in Germany
The study also says: “More important than monetary family benefits, which are particularly geared towards marital partnerships and therefore also harbor the risk of false incentives, are good childcare options and a corresponding cultural change in companies and society.”
In this way, the labor force potential of many women and mothers who remain in jobs with few hours due to the “second earner trap” or a lack of childcare options could be used.
More: Goodbye child benefit: by the end of 2023, basic child security should come