"The introduction of a national minimum wage on 1 January 2015 took place in a fundamentally positive economic environment. There are still differences in the characteristics of establishments in East- and West Germany. For example, differences in the distribution of employment across sectors and classes of establishment size still exist in 2014. In particular, the low importance of manufacturing industry and the underrepresentation of large establishments are characteristic of East Germany. Hence establishments in both parts are affected by the minimum wage legislation in a different extent. The data from the IAB Establishment Panel also show that last year twelve percent of establishments paid at least one employee less than EUR 8.50 gross per hour. There were clearly more establishments doing so in East Germany (23 percent) than in West Germany (nine percent). In these establishments 31 percent of employees are affected by minimum wages. Moreover there are also differences in industry sectors. The share of women in top management positions has not changed during the last decade. Compared to their employment proportion women are still underrepresented - especially in first-level management. In East Germany participation of women in first- or second-level management, is higher than in West Germany. The overall increase in employment in recent years has led to a sustained high level in the demand for skilled labour. Establishments have mainly been able to fill the vacancies for skilled. Though, there have been major differences between sectors. In particular establishments from the area of industry-related services and the construction sector have had major problems. In 2014 the participation of establishments in vocational training remained at the same level as previous years. Around half of the establishments were authorized to provide vocational training actually. In East Germany the level of participation in training was approximately ten percentage points below West Germany. In 2014 increasing problems in filling the training vacancies can also be observed. As in previous years, primarily very small establishments were affected by this. After the decrease of further training in times of the financial and economic crisis in 2009/2010 establishments' participation in further education has now exceeded the pre-crisis level and is maintaining the upward trend. Participation in further training was nearly identical in West and East Germany." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))