DW-TV: Now we're joined by Angsar Belke from the German Institute for Economic Research. Mr. Belke, have you ever considered taking a job in another country?
Ansgar Belke: Yes, I did not only consider this, but I did this, in fact. In the border regions of Germany, in the Netherlands, at the Katholieke Universiteit Brabant in Tilburg, in Brussels, and in Vienna, where I hold my first professorship.
DW-TV: National boundaries are no longer a problem in the EU, but there are still some obstacles that need to be overcome - what sort of hurdles to cross-border workers have to jump?
Ansgar Belke: What we always say is that we do not have an optimal currency area here, because we have different social security systems, different tax systems, different languages, cultures ... everything what you don't have in the US, which is seen as an optimum currency area.
DW-TV: One of the primary motivating factors is always money. Hourly rates here in Germany average out at 30 Euros and 90 cents. In The Netherlands you'll get 31.20 an hour, and in France, the average is 32 Euros and 90 cents. But, in Greece, for example, you'll only get 17 Euros an hour. France has accused Germany of purposefully keeping wages down to reduce export costs. Is that true?
Ansgar Belke: The first thing you have to acknowledge here is that you do not have to look at gross wages but net wages, meaning you have to deduct non-wage labor costs, which are very high in Germany, of course. And the second thing you have to look at is productivity progress. If you have higher productivity, your non-wage labor costs and the costs for the firm, which is relevant for the firm, are much lower. This is what Germany did, by the way -- not make wages higher, but it has increased its productivity.
DW-TV: There's always a discussion about an across the board minimum wage, and whether or not implementing that in Germany would make sense. What do you think?
Ansgar Belke: Of course, this may pose many problems because there is no competition anymore. But one positive aspect might be that we export in goods areas like cars, in a high-quality segment where the export success does not depend so much on prices. And even more, Daimler-Chrysler has relocated its production scheme to the US, where German minimum wages do not matter at all.
DW-TV: If we look ahead to, say, 50 years from now will it even matter what country you work in? Are we moving to some sort of continental labor market?
Ansgar Belke: If the Euro will be effective, we will have so much competition that every difference is eroded away. The second thing, the second hurdle would be the position of the unions. By now, the unions do not want the unions in the other countries to be successful in terms of high wages. There is much competition between them.
DW-TV: All right, Angsar Belke from the German Institute for Economic Research, thank you very much for joining us.
