Cologne Institute for Economic Research, only every second person can save, Gütsel Online, OWL live
Cologne Institute for Economic Research, only every second person can save
Cologne, Matthias Diermeier, Judith Niehues, October 24, 2022
The War in the #Ukraine the drives prices for #Electricity and #Gas at the height. The burdens are being recognized more and more clearly by the Germans. Fewer and fewer people are already able to put money aside, according to a new survey by the German Institute #Business (IW) together with the #Sine institute shows.
In 2020, 70 percent of Germans were still able to put money aside on a regular basis, but currently only every second person (50 percent) feels able to do so. This shows a representative #On-line Survey for which 2,010 participants were interviewed. The decline is particularly strong among those who have less than 1,500 euros available per month: in 2020, a good one in three (35 percent) was able to save something, recently it was only one in five (20 percent).
The middle is also affected financially
The worthiness of the ability to save extends deep into the middle class: for example, only 52 percent of those with a needs-based income of between 2,000 and 2,500 euros can save, two years ago it was 80 percent. The high earners in society meanwhile feel fewer restrictions: in 2020 93 percent of them will save money, currently still 85 percent. On average, every saver in this country can set aside 550 euros a month, and those who have between 3,000 and 4,000 euros can save 710 euros.
#Gas price brake must reduce uncertainty
The energy price crisis not only worries many Germans, but also costs #Prosperity. The sharp rise in gas and electricity prices in particular is making itself felt: 67 percent of respondents said that expensive energy was a heavy financial burden. The far-reaching price increases are affecting social classes that previously felt protected. “The crisis has arrived in the middle, where saving has long been part of the bourgeois self-image,” says Tim Gensheimer from the Sinus Institute. »Especially for the older, nostalgic middle class, financial restrictions come with a loss of face and shake the promise of prosperity that was believed to be the same.«
Against this background, the gas price brake is politically correct and important, according to IW economist Matthias Diermeier: »It provides economic and social security. it must be clear that saving energy is still indispensable.«
To the methodology
The Institute of the German Economy (IW) together with the #Market and Sinus social research institute surveyed 2,010 people between the ages of 18 and 75 online between September 1 and 14, 2022. The sample is representative for the characteristics of age (18 to 75 years), gender, education and housing situation and was adjusted to the income structure of the long-term household survey Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) 2020.