A person earning $550 a month in Germani (or most of Europe) may be waaay better off than a person making $50k in US. You have your education, kindergarten, medical care, social security, retirement, etc... Already covered - so with these $550 (and this is just not true, minimal wages in Germany are higher - this has to be eastern German minimal wage) you only need to get through month for food and utilities (quite a lot of people earning minimum wages are living in nonprofit apartments).
So it's not just black and white.
AFAIK $550 is something I can hardly believe to be true, except in Eastern Germany for people aged 40/50+ without any knowhow or qualifications.
2. What's the rent for nonprofit apartments , or are they free and provided by government ? decent size , reasonable quality neighborhood , or small apartments and shitty
neighborhood (junkies , etc ? ) ?
3. What's the starting age for state provided kindergarten , what happens before that age , do women get social security ?
4. In short could german people earning those minimum salaries have a stable living with all the basics provided ?
1. There is no minimum wage, but if you earn less than the guaranteed minimum (359 Euro), the state will pay you the difference ("Aufstocker")
2. The rent is provided by state for jobless for the apartments. There are also programs for poor people which aren't jobless to get the rent from the state. The allowed size of the apartment depends on family size afaik. The quality depends on the city you life in, but is usually not too bad (no junkies).
3. Half-time from the 3rd year is guaranteed. There are programs for younger children and full-time places, but that's not guaranteed (but usually one can get a place). I do not understand the question if women get social security?
4. This is a topic of heated debate within Germany, so no conclusion here.
The topic is a bit complex, but yes women get money from the state:
1. 13 Euro/day for a period of 14 weeks (6 weeks before the birth of the child, 8 weeks after the birth)
2. 67% of their last wage (maximum 1800 Euro) until the child is one year old.
3. 184 Euro "Kindergeld" (money for the child, roughly translated) from the day of birth till the child is at least 18 years old (and maybe longer .. as said: complex)
Regarding point 4 - Short answer would be IMHO yes. You could live a stable life - but that is pretty much it. No mediterranean holidays, No gaming computers, etc...
OK I did some quick checks:
1. There is no minimum wage in Germany,
2. Social housing starts around 4€/m2 (http://goo.gl/NujS3)
3. This one I admit that I would only research I were German.
4. My opinion is above.
So it's not just black and white.
AFAIK $550 is something I can hardly believe to be true, except in Eastern Germany for people aged 40/50+ without any knowhow or qualifications.