Income distribution and wage formation policies in Germany and France: What is the best model?
We look at the levels of wages and income distribution in Germany and France in different business sectors (manufacturing industry, business services and financial services, "domestic" services, construction). We see two quite different models: In Germany, high wages in industry, low wages in services and construction; In France, quite high wages in services and construction. What is the best model? We can break them down by looking at: The employment rate; The unemployment rate by level of educational attainment; Income inequality before redistribution. We see that the policy of low wages outside industry in Germany has led to a high employment rate, a low unemployment rate for the low -s killed, and lower income inequality before redistribution than in France .