Germany :: essays research papers

Germany is located in Central Europe. It borders the Baltic Sea and theNorth Sea. It is between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark. It isslightly sm entirelyer than Montana.Germanys economy was the realitys third most powerful in 1997. TheGerman economy benefited from robust exports, particularly to other members ofthe EU and the US, as strong as strengthening equipment investments. But anemicprivate consumption and contraction in the construction industry limited theexpansion. Unemployment continued to set post-war monthly records by means ofthe end of 1997 and averaged 4.3 million for the year. In preparation for the firstof January 1999, the start of the European Monetary Union, the government hasmade major trys in 1996-97 to reduce the fiscal deficit. This effort has beencomplicated by growing unemployment, an erosion of the tax base, and thecontinuing transfer of roughly $100 billion a year to eastern Germany torefurbish this ex-communist argona. In recent years b usiness and political leadershave become increasingly concerned about Germanys decline in attractivenessas an investment target. They cite increasing preference by German companiesto locate new manufacturing facilities in foreign countries rather than inGermany, to be closer to the markets, and to forfend Germanys high tax rates,high wage cost, rigid labor structures, and extensive regulations. For similarreasons foreign investment in Germany has been lagging for years.Germany is one of the worlds leading industrial nations. WesternGermany is among the worlds largest and technologically advanced producersof iron, steel, coal, cement, chemicals, implementry, vehicles, machine tools, andelectronics. Eastern Germanys industries are metal fabrication, chemicals,brown coal, shipbuilding, machine building, textiles, and petroleum refining.Industry employs around 41 percent of the German work force. Germanysbiggest industry is vehicles because of luxury cars such as the BMW,Mercedes-Benz , and Porsche, but you cant forget the VW Beetle. German exports value at 521.1 billion dollars. Manufacturing, such asmachines and machine tools, chemicals, motor vehicles, and iron and steelproducts, totals over 88 percent of all exports. Agricultural products account for 5 percent, raw materials for a little over 2 percent, and fuels as 1 percent. Other non-mentioned products total about 3 and a half percent.German imports value at 455.7 billion dollars. manufactured items arealso the most imported at a little over 74 percent of all imports. Agriculturalproducts equal around 10 percent, fuels are over 6 percent, and raw materialsare almost 6 percent. Other non-mentioned materials are under 4 percent of thetotal imports.The labor force is roughly 38.7 million people. As said earlier industryemploys around 41 percent, gardening employs 3 percent, and services employ