star survey
Minimum wage high to 15 euros? The majority of Germans are for it
Serving in the catering industry is often hard work. A majority of Germans would also grant waitresses a minimum wage of 15 euros an hour.
© Alexey Vitvitsky / Imago Images
The minimum wage is an ideal election campaign issue. 57 percent of Germans are in favor of a larger increase. In contrast, the majority are only supporters of the Union and FDP. Is the next argument scheduled at the traffic lights?
Actually, everything is clear when it comes to the minimum wage. The state commission proposed in June 2023: The statutory minimum wage should rise to 12.41 euros per hour on January 1, 2024 and again to 12.82 euros at the beginning of 2025. But the commission’s decision was not unanimous. The union representatives voted against it. Politicians from the SPD and the Greens had also criticized the recommendation as being too low. Nevertheless, the traffic light coalition implemented it in exactly the same way because the FDP in particular was against any deviation from the legal procedure.
A minimum wage of 15 euros – the voices for it are getting louder
But in view of high inflation and significant tariff increases, there is now renewed debate as to whether the minimum wage increase to 12.82 euros is sufficient. In particular, representatives of the Greens, the SPD and the Verdi union have recently spoken out in favor of an increase to 15 euros. You obviously hit a nerve with the population.
A clear majority of Germans are in favor of a larger increase in the minimum wage. Like a Forsa survey for the star showed that 57 percent are in favor of an increase to 15 euros per hour. 38 percent would leave the increase from 12.41 euros to 12.82 euros planned for the beginning of 2025. five percent express no opinion.
The opinions of the parties’ supporters vary widely on the issue. The majority of voters in favor of an increase to 15 euros are the SPD (64 percent), the Greens (62 percent), the AfD (56 percent) and the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance (67 percent). Only a minority of Union (42 percent) and Liberal (35 percent) supporters are in favor of it. 53 percent of CDU/CSU voters are of the opinion that the planned increase to 12.82 euros is sufficient, while 62 percent of FDP voters see it that way.
The minimum wage was already a campaign hit in 2021
A few days ago, SPD chairwoman Saskia Esken called for the legal rules for the minimum wage commission to be changed. A recommendation should only be possible by consensus, i.e. with the consent of the union representatives. The FDP, on the other hand, has rejected a change in the rules as well as a larger increase in the minimum wage. The issue is therefore likely to become the subject of the next federal election campaign. An increase in the minimum wage was already a central promise of the SPD in the 2021 election campaign – but at that time it was to an amount of 12 euros.
Minimum wages are controversial among economists. Before the introduction of statutory wage floors in 2015, many experts warned of mass job losses. In fact, the number of employees in Germany has continued to rise since then. Higher wages can also have the effect of increasing consumption and thus economic growth and employment. However, it is also largely undisputed in economics that a price for labor that is too high can destroy jobs if companies can no longer recoup the increased costs through higher prices. It is unclear at what minimum wage level in Germany the negative effects would clearly outweigh the negative effects.
The data was compiled by the market and opinion research institute Forsa star and RTL Deutschland on May 2nd and 3rd, 2024. Database: 1006 respondents. Statistical margin of error: +/- 3 percentage points. The star is part of RTL Deutschland.