“After World War II the German economy lay in shambles. The war, along with Hitler’s scorched-earth policy, had destroyed 20 percent of all housing. Food production per capita in 1947 was only 51 percent of its level in 1938, and the official food ration set by the occupying powers varied between 1,040 and 1,550 calories per day. Industrial output in 1947 was only one-third its 1938 level. Moreover, a large percentage of Germany’s working-age men were dead. At the time, observers thought that West Germany would have to be the biggest client of the U.S. welfare state; yet, twenty years later its economy was envied by most of the world. And less than ten years after the war people already were talking about the German economic miracle.” – The Library of Economics and Liberty.
The Gastarbeiter agreements, which translates to guest worker, were agreements with several different European countries, such as Turkey, Greece, Italy, and Spain, that recruited immigrants to help reconstruct Germany’s economy after World War 2. Being stretched thin for employees, with an unemployment rate of 0.4% in 1955, the purpose of the agreements were to attract an affordable labor force to power downtrodden German companies that needed a cheap labor force to boost production. (European Economic Review and thebalance.com). The agreements were effective, and in November of 1969 the president of Germany’s Federal Labor Agency, Joseph Stingl, greeted the one millionth guest worker from southeastern European region. (Spiegel Online). Here are the number of immigrants and countries of origin for some main contributors from 1964-1965:
I made this bar graph on a children’s site to interpret the base line results:
World War 2 ended in 1945. With the help of the Marshall Plan and a few other policies, West Germany’s economy began to boom in 1950. Industrial production grew by 25%. Between 1950 and 1960, GDP rose by by two-thirds, unemployment rate fell from 10.3% to 1.2%, and the number of persons employed rose from 13.8 million to 19.8 million. (Countrystudies.us). Therefore, Germany was in need of more workers to support their growing economy by 1960, and, as shown above, immigration was used as a solution. The miracle of Germany’s economic revival is now known as Wirtschaftswunder.
Here is the dip and eventual growth of Germany’s GDP, before and after the help of immigration:
West Germany GDP
