Income inequality is at a historical high in Germany, local newspapers Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Sueddeutsche Zeitung Monday quoted a report by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy as saying.

"This circumstance is not fair and poses a threat to Germany's social cohesion," Matthias Machnig, state secretary at the ministry, told Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Germany has a "wage problem," the report said. Low- and middle-income earners were not benefiting enough from economic growth.

The report said real gross wages of the lower 40 percent of income earners in 2015 were much lower than in 1995 because their income had less purchasing power.

The report said the upper 60 percent of wage earners, in contrast, have recorded strong rises in their income, noting that the wage gap has thus widened significantly.

Machnig said a large share of the German population "was not able to advance," adding that "the children are suddenly worse off than their parents."

"The tax burden on lower incomes has to be reduced. The principle of equal pay for equal work must finally be achieved for women," he told Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Wage is a hot topic in the lead-up to a federal parliament election in September, not least because household consumption accounted for 1.1 percent out of Germany's 1.9 percent gross domestic product growth in 2016.