Nuremberg/Gelsenkirchen (dpa/lnw) - In terms of purchasing power, according to a forecast by the Nuremberg market researcher GfK, Gelsenkirchen remains at the bottom of the nationwide cities and districts. With a net per capita income of 20,862 euros predicted for 2023, the city in the Ruhr area is well below the national average of 26,271 euros, as GfK announced on Thursday. The regions with the highest purchasing power will therefore be around the city of Munich in the coming year. The district of Starnberg is the leader with 36,866 euros.
According to GfK, purchasing power refers to the population's nominal disposable income, which also includes government transfer payments such as pensions, unemployment benefits and child benefits. The costs for rent, cost of living or gas and electricity have not yet been deducted.
Among the federal states, too, Bavaria is at the top with 28,453 euros per capita net income, ahead of Baden-Württemberg (28,125 euros), which has pushed Hamburg (28,084 euros) from second place. At the lower end are the three eastern German federal states of Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and bottom-ranked Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. On average, a resident of the coastal region earns more than 5,000 euros less net than a resident of Bavaria, at €23,213.
Overall, according to the GfK forecast, net income in Germany will increase by 3.3 percent in the coming year - to a total of 2186.7 billion euros. This does not by far outweigh the losses caused by the increased inflation. "After purchasing power had already recorded significant growth this year, a moderate increase in purchasing power of 3.3 percent is also expected for 2023. However, Germans will not really see any of this in their wallets," said GfK retail expert Filip Vojtech.
Consumer prices continued to rise as incomes increased. "It is to be expected that the inflation rate will only slowly return to the two percent target set by the European Central Bank from 2024," said Vojtech. "That's why the Germans will possibly also refrain from making major purchases in 2023 and instead put more money aside for bad times."
