Minimum hourly wage increased in Germany

(Patria) - The German government yesterday formalized the decision to increase the legally guaranteed minimum wage by 82 cents, to 12.82 euros per hour.

The first part of the increase, to 12.41 euros, takes effect in January, and the second at the beginning of 2025.

As expected, Minister of Labour Hubertus Heil signed the minimum wage ordinance according to the June proposal of the joint commission of employers and employees for minimum wage, reports dpa.

The total increase corresponds to a rate of 6.8 percent. Employee representatives on the commission rejected the proposal and demanded a larger increase, but were outvoted.

Some politicians from the ruling coalition of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democratic Party, the Greens, and the liberal FDP are also not satisfied with the increase.

The deputy leader of the Green Party's parliamentary group, Andreas Audretsch, told dpa that the increase is "nothing more than a bad joke" and assessed that people who do difficult jobs deserve more.

Audretsch criticized the commission for first announcing a unanimous agreement and then backing away from it.

Last month, Scholz also criticized the commission on the same issue, demanding that future wage decisions be the result of an agreement with consensual support.