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GERMAN LANGUAGE

Low-income workers in Germany ‘left behind’ in the vaccination rollout

Germany now has a stable and plentiful supply of Covid vaccines at the moment - but those in lower income jobs have been left behind, a new survey shows.

Published: 7 July 2021 13:53 CEST
Low-income workers in Germany 'left behind' in the vaccination rollout
A supermarket worker in Leipzig wearing gloves and handing back cash to a customer. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-Zentralbild | Jan Woitas

Despite major progress in Covid-19 vaccinations in Germany, many people are still waiting for an appointment.

And low-income earners in particular are falling behind, according to a survey by the Economic and Social Science Institute (WSI), which is part of the Hans Böckler Foundation.

According to the survey, in June 2021 only 49 percent of respondents in the bottom fifth of wage distribution in Germany said they had received at least one jab.

In comparison, 71 percent of higher earners reported having received at least one vaccine dose.. A total of 4,500 employees took part in the survey conducted by Lohnspiegel.de portal.

READ ALSO: Why Covid vaccine demand is dropping in Germany

Now there are calls for Germany to focus more on groups of the population which don’t have as much access to vaccines. 

“With enough vaccine available in the summer months, all sections of the population must now have access to vaccination,” said Aline Zucco, an expert on distribution issues at the WSI. “Offering vaccination in the workplace is an important building block for this.”

The latest data shows that 56.8 percent of the population has received at least one jab, and 39.3 percent are fully vaccinated. 

Why aren’t more shop employees jabbed?

According to the survey, people who are unvaccinated with low wages include many employees who were hailed as the heroes of the crisis at the beginning of the pandemic.

These include, for example, shop workers: just over half of the respondents (52 percent) employed in this sector said they’d received at least one jab. 

But according to Germany’s Covid vaccination laws, food retail workers were supposed to be given priority for vaccination, and were even placed in priority group 3.

Yet as the priority list was removed so quickly in June, “many workers were left out”, said Zucco. “Now quite a few of them apparently can’t find their way in the jungle around appointment allocation.”

Among low-income earners, however, the proportion of those who do not want to be vaccinated is also significantly higher – at nine percent – than among higher-income earners (four percent).

Zucco said that in-house company doctors could play a key role in helping key workers on the front line get their jabs. 

“If the company doctor offers an uncomplicated vaccination during working hours, many additional people can be reached that way,” said Zucco.

“And if your own colleagues go for vaccination, that might also convince some who are still hesitant at the moment.”

As The Local has been reporting, there have been major differences on how the vaccine is being rolled out across Germany depending on where you live. 

Now some states are launching their own campaigns to address vaccine hesitancy, by presenting inoculation as the gateway to freedom, holidays and fun.

In Bavaria, for example, the “Ich tu’s für…” (I’m doing it for…) campaign gives numerous reasons why people could get vaccinated.

READ ALSO: Why are some parts of Germany still not vaccinating people in their 60s?

Vocabulary 

Low-income earners – (die) Geringverdiener 

High or higher earners (die) Besserverdiener

Heroines and heroes- (die) Heldinnen und Helden

Jungle – (der) Dschungel 

We’re aiming to help our readers improve their German by translating vocabulary from some of our news stories. Did you find this article useful? Let us know.

Member comments

  1. What I believe many “Experts” miss is that people working “9-5” jobs, possibly also Saturdays, are aware that being vaccinated also usually means you feel like crap next Day. And if they go on a Day Off they lose the day after that, or would even have to go into work feeling awful. I’m not saying that this is a good reason not to get vaccinated- I believe that everyone who can, should – but they may need to think of incentives to get these people jabbed

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GERMAN LANGUAGE

Fettnäpfchen to Pechvogel: What’s the story behind ‘unlucky’ German phrases?

For superstitious Germans, Friday 13th is a time to stay home if you want to avoid stepping in a puddle or busting a tyre. But if misfortune does strike, there are plenty of German idioms that deal with these unlucky situations.

Published: 13 October 2023 14:00 CEST
Fettnäpfchen to Pechvogel: What's the story behind 'unlucky' German phrases?

As Halloween approaches at the end of October and the nights start closing in sooner, it’s a time of year when many people’s thoughts turn to the darker side of life. And on Friday 13th, those of us with a superstitious mind may feel inclined to be that little bit more careful while we’re out and about.

Traditionally, this is a date with an unheimlich – or rather creepy – reputation. It’s a day known for bringing bad luck – a connection that is largely believed to stem back to the story of Jesus’ Last Supper in the Bible. 

During the Last Supper, which happened on a Thursday, 13 people – Jesus and his 12 apostles – were seated at the table. Jesus was arrested later that night and was crucified on the Friday. The crucifixion therefore brought together this day of the week with the unlucky number 13.

Though not all Germans believe in the morbid power of Friday 13th, the German language does offer a wealth of sayings that deal with  misfortune and impending doom. Here are our five picks and the stories behind them.

READ ALSO: Friday the 13th: Eight strange superstitions that Germans hold dearly

Vom Regen in die Traufe

If you start with a minor bit of a bad luck and end up in a far worse situation, you might want to tell people you’ve gone “vom Regen in die Traufe” – or from the rain into the eaves. This analogy has apparently been used in Germany to describe such situations since the 17th century.

If it doesn’t sound too bad at first, it’s worth remembering that the eaves – or Traufe – refer to the bottom of the roof where rain collects and spills off. In fact, it comes from the Old German word ‘trouf’, which means ‘dripping’. So if you find yourself sheltering from a storm under the eaves, you might just find yourself hit by a fountain of cascading water and far wetter than you were to begin with.

In English, we have a similar phrase, but with a far more hellish connotation: jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

Pech haben

Whether it’s a Pechvogel (unlucky person), a Pechsträhne (streak of bad luck), or being ‘vom Pech verfolgt’ (followed by misfortunate), German is littered with phrases that deal with the subject of ‘Pech’. On its own, you may recognise Pech as meaning bad luck, but you may not be aware that the word literally means tar.

A calendar with Friday 13th marked with a pin.

A calendar with Friday 13th marked with a pin. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Christoph Soeder

So how exactly did this gooey black liquid come to be associated with the worst of misfortunes? Many believe it relates to the world of hunting. In the Middle Ages, people would rub tar on tree branches for birds to get stuck on. Any unsuspecting fowl caught in this way came to represent a figure of misfortune, which is where the German phrase ‘Pechvogel’ likely comes from. 

Another less likely explanation comes from Germany’s beer-making traditions. In order to store beer over longer periods, barrels used to be coated with tar on the inside – meaning some unlucky pub-goers may well find some of the black liquid floating in their drink. 

READ ALSO: German word of the day: Der Pechvogel

Ins Fettnäpfchen treten

Whether you’ve blabbed about a surprise birthday party or accidentally offended a work colleague, Germans have a phrase to describe these silly blunders: stepping in a bowl of fat. 

In recent years, the fat-bowl – or Fettnäpfchen – in itself has come to signalise a blunder or a piece of bad luck, in a similar way to the French phrase ‘faux pas’. 

According to the chemist and author Georg Schwedt, the metaphor dates back to a time when farmhouses would often keep a bowl of fat near the front door in order to clean and preserve wet shoes. If people weren’t careful, however, the bowl could easily be stepped on or kicked off, spreading stubborn grease stains all over the floor. 

In English, incidentally, clumsy people also “put their foot in it”. In this case, however, the unpleasant substance you step in is left up to the imagination.

Damoklesschwert

English speakers may well recognise this reference to the ‘Sword of Damocles’ – an idiom indicating that a streak of luck or happiness may soon end in misery.

The expression has its roots in a story by the Roman writer Cicero that has been handed down from antiquity. In it, the courtier Damocles praises the tyrant Dionysius of Syracuse as the most fortunate and happiest king.

Damocles' sword

Damocles’ sword. Photo. Wiki Commons

Dionysus agrees to swap places with his courtier, but has a sword hung above the throne, hanging only by a horse’s hair. This sword comes to symbolise a constant threat to Damocles’ present happiness.

In die Bredouille kommen

Anyone who finds themselves in a sticky situation in Germany may well tell the world that they’ve fallen into the mud – or “Bredouille”, in French.  

The reason for this, according to cultural historian Andres Furger, was the decades-long occupation of large swathes of German land between the French Revolution in 1789 and the Congress of Vienna in 1815. During this time, combat forces would often find themselves in tricky situations – in the “Bredouille”, so to speak.

READ ALSO: 10 German words to get you in the mood for autumn

However, others believe that the phrase may have it roots in a popular boardgame. 

In the French backgammon variant Tricktrack, the Bredouille is a game advantage that makes it much harder for the opponent to win. So if the person you’re playing gets into this position – especially on Friday 13th – you’re likely to be well and truly in the Bredouille. 

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