As per the OP's link, "Every second low wage worker, some 1.5 million Germans, would not be able to pay for a one-week holiday per year outside their own four walls. About 600,000 workers were forgoing having their own car because they could not afford it."
http://www.dw.de/millions-of-german-workers-in-poverty/a-18212765
As to job perks/paid leave, new employees in Germany start right off the bat with 4 weeks paid vacation, except for civil servants who start off with 30 days/SIX WEEKS paid vacation. Here's the standard for Germany:
24 working days (defined as all calendar days that are not Sundays or public holidays). Therefore, a worker with a 5-day workweek has the right to 20 days off.[6] There is one national paid public holiday, German Unity Day. States regulate the remaining paid public holidays which vary between 9 and 13 in total.[14] Bavaria and Baden Wuerttemberg provide the most.[17] Civil employees receive a minimum of 30 days after a law against age discrimination was passed in 2012.[18]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_statutory_minimum_employment_leave_by_country
To drive or not to drive?
As to whether employees can afford to own a car, again - not nearly the level of hardship in Germany which being without a car in the U.S. entails. The level (as to both quantity and quality) of public transportation in Germany, particularly in urban centers, renders ownership of a private auto a largely unnecessary luxury. It's much like living in Manhattan/NYC. Rather than pay for parking & insurance, many of the New Yorkers I know - including those with hefty 6 figure incomes - settle for renting a car those few times a year when they are traveling outside of the city - usually holiday travel to relatives or summer vacation spots where they need a car absent public transportation. I personally find it a luxury to be able to sit and read the morning paper for 10 high speed minutes, rather than battle commuter traffic for an hour to get to work.
I've stayed in Berlin & never had to walk more than a block to access excellent, reliable public transportation throughout the urban area: S-Bahn, U-Bahn, buses, trams (and taxis of course - I mention taxis because here in Pittsburgh, we have absolutely minimal taxi service - you can't rely on them to show up when ordered, and they refuse to take you from the airport to the northern half of the county or even serve some of the suburbs at all.)
The usual German workweek these days varies between 38 and 42 hours, and some employers shut up shop early on Friday afternoons. The law requires a minimum of 20 working days of vacation annually, but some companies give much more than that, sometimes as much as 30 working days. In some companies employees may earn increasing days of vacation from year to year. Unpaid leave is also permitted under certain circumstances.
Paid sick leave is six weeks, during which you will continue to receive your full salary. After that time, health insurance pays 70% of your last salary until you either return to work or have to retire because of your health.
German law is generous when it comes to maternity and paternity leave. Mothers are allowed six weeks leave at full pay prior to the child’s birth and eight weeks at full pay afterward. In the case of a multiple birth, 12 weeks paid leave is allowed. The mother or father is then allowed up to three years of unpaid leave to stay at home with the child. Recently, the German government initiated a program that allows direct subsidies to new parents (Elterngeld). It is funded by the federal tax system. It is not a permanent subsidy and is limited to the first 12 or 14 months following the child's birth. The amount of the Elterngeld is based on the after taxes income of the parent dedicated to caring for the newborn.
In tough economic times, perhaps German workers should be given the option of trading in one or two of those paid vacation weeks for a concomitant increase in their salaries. In my various jobs, as a professional/attorney/govt. employee, I started out with 2 weeks off (at the end of the first year) and slowly (one increased day per year) worked my way up to 3 weeks off.
As to your original query of the viability of a nuclear weapons industry in Germany? I don't think the government of the populace would consider that for a moment. Germany is anti-nuclear power already: Germany plans to abandon nuclear energy by 2022:
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=A0LEVv72g8RUFTMA8iknnIlQ?qid=20110531212312AAaVSjx
and Merkel's govt. is determined to minimize Germany's arms productions:
German arms industry faces winds of change
Germany's arms industry is under pressure to diversify its business because the government wants to reduce the country's arms exports. Talks have begun in Berlin aimed at engineering the change without losing jobs.
http://www.dw.de/german-arms-industry-faces-winds-of-change/a-17902896
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