Before we will continue our trip through the Rhine-Ruhr area, we will visit the gigantic steelmill of ThyssenKrupp in Duisburg. All blast furnaces in the Ruhr are now located in Duisburg. 49% of all hot metal and 34.4% of all pig-iron in Germany is produced here.
But the number of people who are working in the steelindustry is declining. This is a major problem for the area, the city depends too much on heavy industry. The total workforce of Duisburg is declining for years, just like the population.
Some facts: in Duisburg, there is one workplace for every three citizens. The city Krefeld, located just south-west of Duisburg, has two workplaces for every three citizens. So, despite being two times smaller, Krefeld has work than Duisburg.
Duisburg was once one of the major cities in (west) Germany, but it's loosing ground. Perhaps it could be said that Duisburg is the German counterpart of cities like Gary or Detroit.
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Next stop: Bottrop!