East Germans seldom reach leading roles or high-ranking positions - Few East Germans ascend to prominent positions
The federal government is taking active steps to address the issue of underrepresentation of East Germans in management positions, setting a goal to increase their representation. However, recent findings from a study conducted by the Universities of Leipzig, Jena, and the University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz reveal slow progress in this area.
The study, known as the Elite Monitor, observed the development of around 3,000 top positions in 12 sectors. In the federal administration, progress is noticeable at the middle management level, gradually moving up from below. However, on the top management level, the situation is less encouraging. The share of East Germans on this level has declined from 6.8% to 3.7%, and even lower when excluding Berlin from the calculation, falling from 4.5% to 1.9%.
The highest number of top leadership positions with underrepresentation of East Germans is found in federal top authorities and upper federal agencies. Despite an increase from 13.9% to 15.5% in 2022, progress remains slow. In higher federal authorities, the share has risen from 11.9% to 12.6%.
The economy sector has seen a decrease in the share of East Germans in management positions, falling from 5.1% to 4.0%. In contrast, the culture sector has seen a more significant drop, with the share falling from 9.3% to 6.8%.
The exception to this trend is politics, where the share of East Germans has increased from 19.9% in 2018 to 21.4% in 2024.
It is important to note that the proportion of native East Germans in leadership roles remains below the share of native East Germans in the population, which is around 20%.
Elisabeth Kaiser, the federal government's commissioner for eastern German affairs and a member of the SPD (Social Democratic Party), presented these figures at an event in Leipzig, Germany.
While the federal government continues its efforts to increase the representation of East Germans in management positions, the slow progress suggests that more needs to be done to achieve this goal.
