The German government has adopted the largest increase in the minimum wage since its creation, raising the minimum wage from the current €12.82 gross per hour to €13.90 at the beginning of next year.

The German minimum wage is increasing. The government adopted on Wednesday the largest increase in the minimum wage since its creation ten years ago. However, it remains slightly less ambitious than expected by the Social Democrats, members of the ruling coalition.

Currently at €12.82 gross per hour, it will therefore increase to €13.90 at the beginning of next year, then to €14.60 on January 1, 2027, representing a total increase of 13.9%. According to the German Ministry of Labor, approximately six million workers will benefit from this increase.

A minimum wage that has only been in place for eleven years

The government followed the recommendations made in June by an independent commission comprised of representatives from both employers and employees. The Social Democrats had hoped for an increase to €15 as early as 2026.

According to the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the German minimum wage is currently the fourth highest in the EU, after Luxembourg, Ireland, and the Netherlands. The German government, under Chancellor Angela Merkel, then leading a coalition with Social Democrats, decided in the summer of 2014 to introduce a minimum wage in Germany. It first came into effect on January 1, 2015, initially set at €8.50 gross per hour.

At the time, it was a minor revolution, as Germany had a long-standing social tradition of non-interference by the government in wage relations. The Social Democrats had succeeded in convincing Angela Merkel's conservatives of the merits of this measure, in the name of social justice and in the face of the growth of a large low-wage sector.