Across Europe, there are much fewer women than men employed in executive positions. On European average, only 10% of the members of the highest decision-making bodies in the top 50 publicly quoted companies are women. However, the situation varies substantially from country to country. The...

The years 1998 to 2003 were marked by a deterioration in the economic situation of the German population with an immigrant background as the share of immigrants living below the poverty line increased at an above average rate. The older and younger age groups in this segment of the population...

The pharmaceutical industry employs around 106 000 people and produces a good 9 billion euros or 2.5% of value added in the manufacturing sector in Germany. But it contributes a bigger part to value added and employment in the economy as a whole than these figures show. Its particular role...

At the beginning of this year (as at the beginning of every year), the Federal Statistical Office published its preliminary calculations regarding the most important aggregates in the German national accounts for the year 2004.2 The data presented in this report deviate from the official annual...

The so-called 'Minijob-reform', that was introduced in April 2003 as part of the 'Hartz II'-reform, was intended to increase work incentives for people with low wages and thereby reduce structural unemployment. Therefore, the hours restriction of 15 hours per week was abolished and the threshold...

CO2 emissions from energy consumption in Germany fell by nearly 1% in 2004 from the previous year to a good 834 million tonnes. However, taking into account temperature effects and the reduction in stocks of light heating oil in 2004, which was considerable but is not reflected in the...

Inequality with respect to personal earned income has increased in recent years. This trend has gone hand in hand with changes in both the employment constellations of households and the labor market activity of individuals (e.g. through 'minijobs'). In particular, the years since 2000 have seen...

The relations between Russia and the EU with respect to energy and climate policies have been characterized in recent months by two phenomena. On the one hand, the EU has to deal with questions regarding the security of energy supply. The Russian government's high-handed treatment of domestic...

The anthropogenic climate change will persist if the global volume of greenhousegas emissions will not be reduced significantly. A dangerous and irreversibleclimate change will occur if atmospheric concentrations of greenhousegases in the year 2100 exceed 450 ppm and global surface temperatureis...

The year 2004 saw Turkey take a big step forward to the European Union, as international investors also believe, and in December last year the European Council opened up real prospects of entry for Turkey for the first time. Agreement was also reached with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)...