Minimum wage is scheduled to increase to 14.60 euros in 2027

The minimum wage in Germany is expected to increase in two stages to 14.60 euros on January 1, 2027. At the beginning of next year, it is expected to increase to EUR 13.90, as the minimum wage commission in Berlin announced. The mediation proposal of the commission chairman Christiane Schönefeld was unanimously decided.

Today the minimum wage is 12.82 euros. The minimum wage commission decides on the adjustment every two years. Top representatives of unions and employers negotiate with each other here. The Federal Government then implemented the decision by regulation. The previous decision on today’s minimum wage was made against the vote of the unions with the voice of the independent commission chairman Christiane Schönefeld.

Schönefeld spoke of a sustainable compromise that ensures a balance between the interests of employees and companies. With a view to the expectations expressed in public about a minimum wage of 15 euros – that is what the SPD demands – she spoke of very difficult discussions. The negotiator of the German Trade Union Confederation, Stefan Körzell, said it was “hard negotiations”. The negotiator of the employer, Steffen Kampeter, criticized the great pressure that had been exercised by the political side to the Commission in the past few months.

For weeks, however, the committee had been disagreed, as said from negotiation circles. If the independent minimum wage commission had not reached an agreement, the legislator could have acted. The SPD, which holds a party congress in Berlin, had requested 15 euros in the election campaign.

The coalition agreement between the CDU, CSU and Social Democrats had dispensed with a concrete definition. “For the further development of the minimum wage, the minimum wage commission will be based on collective bargaining and 60 percent of the gross wage of full -time employees as part of an overall assessment,” says the legal requirements for the Commission. “In this way, a minimum wage of 15 euros can be reached in 2026.”

The minimum wage in Germany was introduced in 2015 under Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU). In the event of an increase to 12 euros in October 2022, the legislature had exceptionally taken the committee out of the hand by law. At that time, the later Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had put the minimum wage at the center of his election campaign for more “respect” towards the citizens. Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) had made it clear in an interview that there would be “no legal automatism”. The minimum wage could “be at this amount on 1/1/2026 or 2027,” said Merz in April.

The decisive factors for the lower wage limit are the past development of the wages in Germany, calculated by the Federal Statistical Office. In addition, the medium wage serves as a compensation size, because 60 percent of the national median wages, i.e. the statistically calculated mean wage, are considered an appropriate minimum wage. This is to avoid that even more people will be at risk from poverty in the future.

Last year, according to official statistics, 15.5 percent of the population were at risk of poverty – around 13.1 million people in Germany. According to the EU definition, everyone who has less than 60 percent of the medium-sized income of the total population is considered to be at risk of poverty. This was 1,378 euros a month after taxes and social security contributions in 2024 for a living person in Germany. However, employers had warned of serious economic consequences by a significant minimum lighter increase. Germany threatens the third year of recession in a row in 2025.