A new statutory minimum wage has been in force in Germany since October 1, 2022.
This has significant implications for mini-jobbers in particular.
Millions of employees in Germany can now look forward to a hefty wage increase, because a significantly higher minimum wage has been in force since October.
Mini-jobbers in particular will benefit from the changes.
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The new minimum wage of 12 euros has been in effect in Germany since October 1, 2022.
© IMAGO/Fleig / Eibner press photo
New minimum wage from October 1, 2022
Since October 1, 2022, the statutory minimum wage in Germany has been EUR 12 gross per hour.
The minimum wage had previously been increased in stages to 10.45 euros most recently.
According to the Institute for Labor Market and Occupational Research, the minimum wage increase affects every fifth job.
The approximately 3 million mini-jobbers in Germany in particular will benefit from the new regulation: Here, three out of four employees only receive the minimum wage.
What is the statutory minimum wage?
The statutory minimum wage, also known as the general minimum wage, is a binding lower wage limit that employers must not fall below.
It applies to all employees throughout Germany (with a few exceptions, such as trainees).
In addition, there may be a separate industry minimum wage for certain professions, but this must not be lower than the statutory minimum wage.
Why was the minimum wage increased?
With the unscheduled increase in the minimum wage to 12 euros, the federal government has implemented one of its most important projects.
"It was necessary for us to bring the lower incomes closer to the middle ones," said Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil, according to a report by the
German Press Agency (dpa)
.
“Because the increase to 12 euros is roughly a lower wage limit of 60 percent of median income.
At the European level, too, this has been
defined as a threshold for a poverty-proof lower wage limit, it is said.
For comparison: Anyone who was still earning the minimum wage for a 40-hour week in July 2022 earned around 1,800 euros a month.
With the new minimum wage of 12 euros, earnings are around 2,080 euros per month.
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Minimum wage increase: The earnings limit for mini-jobbers also rises to 520 euros
With the increase in the minimum wage to 12 euros per hour, the monthly earnings limit for mini jobs was also raised on October 1, 2022 – from the previous 450 euros to 520 euros.
This corresponds to a weekly working time of 10 hours.
So far, mini-jobbers have only benefited little from wage increases, since they then had to reduce the number of working hours in order not to exceed the earnings limit.
In the future, the earnings limit is to be adjusted to the development of the minimum wage.
List of rubrics: © IMAGO/Fleig / Eibner press photo