In 1993, the ratio of socially motivated public expenditure to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose to a new high. The central government, the Länder, and the social security institutions spent Sch 616 billion on social welfare programs, corresponding to 29.2 percent of GDP. To the extent that the...

Social expenditures rose markedly in 1992 despite a certain degree of stabilisation in the labour market. A rise in outlays in certain branches of social security as well as the introduction of new programmes caused social expenditures to increase to 28.2 percent of GDP, the highest value since...