Press release No. 121 of 6 April 2016
WIESBADEN – In April 2014, that is, not long before the statutory minimum wage was introduced in Germany, the pay for 5.5 million jobs in the country was lower than the new gross minimum wage of 8.50 euros per hour worked. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that 4.0 million jobs (10.7% of all jobs) have been covered by the Minimum Wage Act as of 1 January 2015. For the remaining 1.5 million jobs, however, the act includes exceptions (mainly regarding apprentices, interns and people aged below 18 years).
The purpose of the statutory minimum wage is to protect workers especially in those jobs that are not subject to collective agreements. 82.3% or 3.3 million of the low-paid jobs that are now under protection were found in establishments not covered by collective agreements. Most of them were jobs in retail trade or in food and beverage services (0.5 million each).