The Minimum Wage Commission, created by the government in Germany, proposed increasing the minimum wage per hour in the country to 12.41 euros from next year.
The Minimum Wage Commission, formed by the representatives of employers and workers by the German government, announced its decision on the minimum wage paid per hour. Accordingly, the commission proposed that the wage in question be increased to 12.41 euros per hour from next year.
The Commission asked for the minimum wage to be increased to 12.82 euros as of January 2025.
“The decision came at a time of weak economic growth and persistently high inflation in Germany, which pose great challenges for both companies and workers,” the decision of the Minimum Wage Commission said.
On the other hand, the German Trade Union Union (DGB) Minimum Wage Commission sharply criticized the proposal.
DGB Board Member Stefan Körzell stated in his statement that the nominal increase in the legal minimum wage of 0.41 euros per hour would actually mean a “loss of real wages” for the country’s nearly six million minimum wage workers, given high inflation.
Körzell, who is also a member of the Minimum Wage Commission, stated that with the proposal in question, there will be an increase of only 3.4 percent in the minimum wage paid per hour next year and 3.3 percent in 2025, adding, “The minimum wage should have been increased to at least 13.50 euros”. said.
Stefan Genth, President of the German Retailers Association (HDE), stated that it will be difficult for many companies to cope with a very important and very rapid increase in the minimum wage, and said, “As a result, there may be closures of companies and a reduction in activities.”
The German government is expected to make the Commission’s proposal binding with a regulation.
The legal minimum wage in Germany was first introduced in 2015 as 8.50 euros per hour.
Raising the minimum wage in the country has been one of the most important election promises of Prime Minister Olaf Scholz, and the government has increased the legal minimum wage in the country from 10.45 euros to 12 euros in October 2022.