In 2025, the statutory minimum wage should rise to 12.82 euros – actually. The Chancellor is once again calling for a higher surcharge – and has a request for critics and the Minimum Wage Commission.
Despite criticism from the traffic light coalition, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has reiterated his push for a gradual increase in the minimum wage to 15 euros in Germany.
The SPD politician told the television station Phoenix that the minimum wage should rise to 14 euros in a first step and to 15 euros in a second step. “Of course, those who work hard and earn little must have better wages.” He thinks “that someone who works hard needs to be treated properly – and a decent wage is part of that,” Scholz told the station on Friday.
Even with these amounts it is difficult to make a living: “And to be honest, 14 or 15 euros isn’t the world either. You can’t get very far there either.”
With regard to critics, Scholz said he would ask “that some with their high incomes, who write very idiosyncratic comments about it, imagine how they would have to get by with this money if they also had to support a family with it.” Full-time work doesn’t come with a high salary.
The minimum wage commission decides independently. But his advice was “amicable and a little bit like looking at the perspective of those who work full-time for such low wages,” said Scholz. It is currently planned to increase the minimum wage next year from the current 12.41 euros to 12.82 euros.
Scholz’s move recently sparked strong criticism from his coalition partner FDP, the opposition Union and employers. Greens, trade unions and social associations welcomed the statement.
In the interview, Scholz recently criticized the minimum wage commission from employers and unions: “The employers only insisted on a mini-adjustment.” They also broke with the tradition of making decisions by consensus. The Commission should return to a uniform procedure. The employers’ association BDA accused Scholz of interfering in the setting of the minimum wage. The FDP made a similar statement.
SPD leader Saskia Esken called on employers to make a significant minimum wage increase possible. Otherwise, politicians will be forced to act.
“We cannot allow the minimum wage to remain too low,” Esken told the “Stuttgarter Zeitung” and the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten” (Saturday). “The Minimum Wage Commission should know that we are very serious about our expectation of a joint decision by the social partners for a fair minimum wage,” she emphasized.
It was a breach of a taboo that the employers overruled the unions. “If the commission fails to fulfill its task of setting a common and fair wage next time, we would be forced to act,” said Esken.