Average salary of the German in 1940

[Flakvierling auf Spreizlafette]

Hi,
This might seem like a bit of a random question, but does anyone know the average salary of the German person in 1940? (If the question hasn't been asked before.) Rough estimates are welcome.
Thanks

[Hans1906]

Tariflohn-Entwicklung - Monatslohn pro Monat (Netto in Mark, RM oder EUR)

Link: https://www.was-war-wann.de/historische ... slohn.html

My grandfather as a "labor leader" ("Arbeitsführer") in the RAD/Reichsarbeitsdienst had a good income.

They lived in the parents' house, they had no monthly accommodation expenses.
Saved for a KdF-Car, but they never got their hands on such a "Volkswagen".

KdF-Wagen https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/KdF-Wagen ... sinne,Euro)%20für%20jedermann%20erschwinglich%20sein.

The prices for these vehicles are exorbitant, some collectors would sacrifice their left egg for such a vehicle.
When we were children, the vehicles rotted in the woods, they were our toys.


Hans
P.S. The monthly income of a major in the RAD or in the Wehrmacht was certainly more than ten times higher than a normal monthly wage for dependent work, a desirable position, who would blame that today, ask yourself...

[Flakvierling auf Spreizlafette]

Very interesting to know a bit of your family history! Thanks for the information.
Cheers

[Boby]

Look here:

https://www.digizeitschriften.de/id/514 ... sh%26to%3D

Data from rentenversicherungen tell us that in 1940 a gross average of 1,550 RM per year for workers (arbeiter) and 2,857 RM for employees (angestellter)(but from the tables you can see how uneven was if we disaggregate it).

Boby,

[Peter]

Thanks Boby,
that's a really useful reference !

[gebhk]

Hi Flakvierling

I would only add to the above that, as Boby points out, the average (or mean) is not particulalry useful as an indicator of overall earnings. Averages are only really useful as indicators of the central position in a 'bell shaped' distribution. Wages or earnings tend to have anything but. For example in one tribe there are 10 men who each earn $10 a year. In another there is one man who earns $100 per annum while the remainder earn nothing at all. Men of both tribes earn an average of $10 per annum but that is small consolation to 90% of the men of the second tribe!

The median (middle value when the values are odered from least to greatest) or mode (the most frequently occurring value) are far more useful.

Apologies if I am teaching granny to suck eggs!

[Flakvierling auf Spreizlafette]

Hi Flakvierling

I would only add to the above that, as Boby points out, the average (or mean) is not particulalry useful as an indicator of overall earnings. Averages are only really useful as indicators of the central position in a 'bell shaped' distribution. Wages or earnings tend to have anything but. For example in one tribe there are 10 men who each earn $10 a year. In another there is one man who earns $100 per annum while the remainder earn nothing at all. Men of both tribes earn an average of $10 per annum but that is small consolation to 90% of the men of the second tribe!

The median (middle value when the values are odered from least to greatest) or mode (the most frequently occurring value) are far more useful.

Apologies if I am teaching granny to suck eggs!

That's understandable! Thanks for that info.
Cheers

[williamdarr4]

By 1940, nearly six million farmers had received federal subsidies. The New Economic Policy programs provided loans for increased crops, provided wheat insurance and a planned storage system, to ensure a steady food supply. Finally, the policy of stabilizing the economy for farmers was completed, although the government had to monitor it extremely closely and incur huge costs.

[alishakihn1]

Flappy Bird
Hi,
This might seem like a bit of a random question, but does anyone know the average salary of the German person in 1940? (If the question hasn't been asked before.) Rough estimates are welcome.
Thanks

The median income for a man in 1940 was $956. Seventy years later, the median income was $33,276. Women in 1940 earned 62 cents for every dollar a man earned. In 2010, women earned 74 cents for every dollar a man earned.

[Valln1946]

Hi,
This might seem like a bit of a random question Terraria, but does anyone know the average salary of the German person in 1940? (If the question hasn't been asked before.) Rough estimates are welcome.
Thanks

According to historical data, the average monthly wage for a skilled worker in Germany in 1940 was around 185 Reichsmarks (RM). This was equivalent to approximately $74 USD at the time, using the exchange rate of $1 USD = 2.5 RM.

[T. A. Gardner]

Hi Flakvierling

I would only add to the above that, as Boby points out, the average (or mean) is not particulalry useful as an indicator of overall earnings. Averages are only really useful as indicators of the central position in a 'bell shaped' distribution. Wages or earnings tend to have anything but. For example in one tribe there are 10 men who each earn $10 a year. In another there is one man who earns $100 per annum while the remainder earn nothing at all. Men of both tribes earn an average of $10 per annum but that is small consolation to 90% of the men of the second tribe!

The median (middle value when the values are odered from least to greatest) or mode (the most frequently occurring value) are far more useful.

Apologies if I am teaching granny to suck eggs!

This is something of a fallacy depending on how things go over time.

If in the first tribe, they toil away getting their $10 each but can never seem to save enough to get ahead, while in the second tribe the man making $100 eventually has saved enough surplus money to invest in improved means of production such that now he pays the other men $20 each and himself $200, then the second tribe, in the long run, is better off.

[gebhk]

This is something of a fallacy depending on how things go over time.

Nope, it's a simple mathematical fact. The average/mean is only an indicator of the central tendency if the vaues are the same or follow a bell-shaped curve or similar. Whether one member of the tribe earns $100 and the others nil, or he earns $200 and the others $20 each, the mean is still an inaccurate indicator of central tendency.

[ruiss]

The median income for a man in 1940 was $956