With the Minimum Wage Act, which was passed by the German Bundestag on July 3, 2014, as part of the Collective Bargaining Autonomy Strengthening Act, and came into force on August 16, 2014, a general statutory minimum wage of €8.50 gross per hour was introduced in Germany on January 1, 2015.
With decisions in 2016, 2018, and 2020, the Minimum Wage Commission adjusted the minimum wage incrementally to €10.45 as of July 1, 2022. With the Act to Increase Protection through the Statutory Minimum Wage and to Make Changes in the Area of Marginal Employment (MiLoEG), which came into force on July 1, 2022, the German Bundestag amended the Minimum Wage Act (MiLoG) and increased the statutory minimum wage to €12 as of October 1, 2022.
The amendment temporarily suspended the regular adjustment procedure under Section 9 (1) MiLoG, which is why the Minimum Wage Commission made its next decision on the adjustment of the minimum wage with a delay of one year in June 2023.
Following this decision and the enactment of a statutory order by the federal government on November 24, 2023, the statutory minimum wage was increased to €12.41 per hour with effect from January 1, 2024, and to €12.82 per hour with effect from January 1, 2025.
