If you look at the surplus it works well for their exports but the salaries are at the same level they were in the 90s. So although unemployment is low and exports were going strong (hence corporations like BMW and Mercedes are making huge profits) the salaries were largely at the same levels. The German government decide to keep the surplus instead of spending money in local and foreign investment which keeps virtually the EUR low. It's a policy heavily criticized by both USA and European economists.
One might argue that these choices worked very well for Germany. Not very well for the rest of the Eurozone, especially the Mediterranean countries, which found themselves having huge deficits. The EU has structural problems which the German model speed up.