Structural change

in the ruhr

With the industrialization

in Europe the region around the river Ruhr became the biggest industrial and

metropolitan area in Europe, basing its success on mining, steel pro-duction and heavy industry. Due to this economic importance for the German

industry the hole area was one of the most important targets for the bombs of the allies.

After the German “economic miracle” and the finalization of the post war reconstruction there was a worldwide oversupply of coal and steel, leading to a drastic reduction of prices. This made this business

unprofitable in a very short time. An area with more than 5 million inhabitants at that time, specialized on mining and heavy industry for more than 150 years, lost its perspectives in just a couple of years. The triumphal march of the new

“liquid gold”, the oil, at the same time speeded up this process.

In consequence, many coal mines and steel plants were closed and because of a lack of alternative sectors in the area, the state tried to avoid an economic collapse with high subsidies for coal and steel. This led to a further delay of long overdue structural changes.

the coal criSiS

2

Today the area of the for-mer steelwork “Phoenix

Ost” is a lake with plenty of recre-ational activities.

3

Qualification to fight unemployment

High-Tech has replaced

heavy industry and the montane

industry.

4

With the oil crisis at the begin-ning of the 70s and a growing economic debt, the government could no longer afford to ar-tificially keep the sector alive, so they slowly cut the subsi-dies, leading to an immense growth of unemployment.

The unemployed people had just limited chances on the labour market, because of limited education and qualification. Most of them just had eight years of school and no completed vocational education.

The government finally re-acted with a “development program Ruhr”, targeting a specific settlement of grow-

ing industries in the area, sup-porting the further qualification

of workers and founding of universi-ties (there was not a single university in the

huge Ruhr area until 1965).

5

This measures led to a significant improvement of the area in the 80s, with a lot of foundations of new companies in the service sector. However, with the economic crisis after the German Reunion

this process stagnated and the unemployment remained on a high level.

Since the 80s the change has become noticeable. Many small companies have been founded (e.g. in biotechnology or environment-techniques). Those small firms profited from the newly founded

universities and many technology centers that were created next to these universities.

Today, the process of structural change is almost completed. 55 percent of all employees are working in the service sector, with a still increasing percentage. But still a lot of problems remain, resulting

from the missed structural change in the 60s. Not all jobs in the montane industry could have been replaced. So the unemployment rate in cities like Duisburg or

Dortmund is still one of the highest in Germany.

the Structural change

6

The former brewery building in the city of Dortmund today

is a center for art and culture.

7

The Ruhr is one of the largest urban ag-glomerations in Europe. Some five Million people live in its 53 cities in an area of about 4400 km². It grew during the indus-trialization to become one of the major economic centers in Europe due to its coal mines and steel mills. After the coal crisis in the middle of the 20th century and the growing importance of oil the area had to face a major structural change. Today, the montane industry has fanished to make space for universities, research centers and service industry. The structural change is completed and brought along not only a considerable change in the look of the cit-ies but also one of the highest unemploy-ment rates in Germany.

the ruhr area

Picture credits Bundesarchiv, Jürgen Huhn, Landschaftspark Duisburg Nord, Stadt Dortmund, Stadt Mülheim, Wikimedia.WikiPedia: Arnold Paul, Arnoldius, Daniel Ullrich, Der Hexer, Dirkscheer, Florian Nolz, Gerd W. Schmölter, Goseteufel, Luha, Mario Fischer, Mbdortmund, Otto Kaschewitz, pe-sa, Raimond Spekking, Rainer Knäpper, Rasi57, smial, Spantax, Tbachner, Thomas Robbin, Dr. Timo Mappes, Wolfgang Hunscher.

Johannes Zuber