How poor (poorly paid) are Berliners?

The latest statistics say that they’re the poorest in the land. Nearly a quarter of all Berlin households have to get by on roughtly 1100 euros (about $1,500) per month.

So If you’re looking for rotten work that’s grossly underpaid, Berlin is like, I dunno, El Dorado or something. No skills required, either. Come on down!

And money isn’t everything, of course. Unless you don’t have any, I mean.

Das passt ins Bild von der „armen“ Hauptstadt und hat vor allem mit der hohen Arbeitslosigkeit zu tun. Sie liegt in Berlin bei 12,8 Prozent – so hoch wie in keinem anderen Bundesland. Mehr als 600.000 Menschen beziehen Sozialtransfers.

Unemployment drops, absenteeism on the rise

Is there a connection here?

More and more Germans are calling in sick here all the time these days (for the fourth year running). And for all the wrong reason too. Not like when say, for instance, a cow has ransacked your house or something.

Kontinuierlicher Anstieg seit vier Jahren