(de-news.net) – Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) has once again stressed that the minimum wage must rise significantly in 2026. A week ago, Heil said that it was important not only to have good jobs in Germany, but also to ensure that people can live from their work. He stressed that the introduction of the minimum wage in 2015 was the right thing to do, but that the wage floor must be further developed. Heil had previously written to the Minimum Wage Commission that the next increase must implement the requirements of the European Minimum Wage Directive, which stipulates a minimum wage of 60 percent of the median wage. That would be 15.27 Euros, while the current minimum wage is 12.41 Euros and will rise by 41 cents next year. The Minimum Wage Commission will decide in June 2025, but the EU Minimum Wage Directive must be implemented into German law by mid-November already.
The FDP rejected Heil’s demand to increase the minimum wage to at least 14 Euros in 2026. FDP parliamentary group vice-chairman Christoph Meyer said Heil’s proposal sounded like a dictate and was very difficult given Germany’s economic situation. The employers’ associations accused Heil of deliberately distorting the legal situation. Steffen Kampeter, general manager of the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations (BDA), said the national reference value was the collective wage development. Heil was distorting the legal situation and damaging the Minimum Wage Commission. Kampeter also accused Heil and Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) of unnecessarily burdening employees in the lower wage bracket with social security contributions. Karl-Sebastian Schulte, managing director of the Central Association of German Crafts (ZDH) and the German Crafts Entrepreneurs’ Association (UDH), as well as a member of the Minimum Wage Commission, said that the current minimum wage law already met all European requirements, including the legally non-binding reference value of 60 percent of the median wage.
The German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) criticized employers for refusing to implement the EU minimum wage directive and called for a minimum wage that would protect against poverty. DGB board member Stefan Körzell said that the Heil had made a clarification in his letter to the Minimum Wage Commission, as requested by the EU Commission. Körzell countered employers’ criticism that a higher minimum wage could overburden companies in the tense economic situation by saying that higher minimum wages would support the domestic economy, as they would flow almost entirely into consumption.
Meanwhile, Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) has spoken out in favor of a minimum wage of 15 Euros and called on his party to put wage policy at the center of the federal election campaign. When asked whether he, like Chancellor Olaf Scholz, was in favour of a 15-Euro minimum wage, Weil answered “yes” and stressed that the level of the minimum wage was crucial when it came to the gap between wages and transfer payments.
