The Bundestag has decided to increase the minimum wage to 12 euros. A key campaign promise made by Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the SPD has thus been implemented.
The minimum wage will rise to 12 euros in October. The Bundestag decided on the increase on Friday with the votes of the traffic light coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP.
The Union abstained, although it had drummed for the minimum wage in the Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia state election campaigns.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had made raising the minimum wage one of his key campaign promises. Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) acknowledged the increase in the minimum wage to twelve euros as a “question of respect” for hard work.
For low earners, this is often “the biggest jump in wages of their lives,” said Heil on Friday in the parliamentary budget debate. For them, this means “a noticeable improvement in the wallet”.
“This federal government provides real relief for people with low incomes,” Heil emphasized. The minimum wage contributes to this, but “we also want more wages again” because “we don’t want everyone to only get twelve euros,” said the minister. The government therefore wants to ensure that federal orders only go to companies that pay according to tariffs.
Heil also referred to the significant increase in pensions planned for July 1st and the government’s goal of securing the level of pensions in the long term. It’s about “a stable job market” and “a strong welfare state,” and all economic actors should work on it.
“People who work full-time shouldn’t be threatened by poverty these days,” said Green Party politician Andreas Audretsch for the minimum wage. In the debate, the CSU politician warned against “watering can” social policy at the expense of taxpayers Silke Launert: The left-wing politician Gesine Lötzsch campaigned for additional support for the socially disadvantaged, for example through a rent cap.
