Germany to introduce minimum wage, $10ish an hour

[Jacobtm]

So Germany is poised to introduce a minimum wage.

It will be quite interesting for any people who are actually interested in rationally looking at the costs/benefits of minimum wages. Do any of you care to proffer a guess about short-term economic reactions to the new minimum wage?

Germany will go from not currently having a minimum wage to introducing one of about 7 or 8 Euro an hour, about $10-11.

[phk]

Higher minimum wages aren't necessarily a bad thing if the income elasticities work out the right way and people are a little tolerant of inflation.

[Wonkish1]

So Germany is poised to introduce a minimum wage.

It will be quite interesting for any people who are actually interested in rationally looking at the costs/benefits of minimum wages. Do any of you care to proffer a guess about short-term economic reactions to the new minimum wage?

Germany will go from not currently having a minimum wage to introducing one of about 7 or 8 Euro an hour, about $10-11.

I'm actually quite surprised that Germany didn't have a minimum wage.

For those that live in Germany have any of you actually known many people making very low per hour incomes like under 4 euro's an hour?

[Tender Branson]

So Germany is poised to introduce a minimum wage.

It will be quite interesting for any people who are actually interested in rationally looking at the costs/benefits of minimum wages. Do any of you care to proffer a guess about short-term economic reactions to the new minimum wage?

Germany will go from not currently having a minimum wage to introducing one of about 7 or 8 Euro an hour, about $10-11.

I'm actually quite surprised that Germany didn't have a minimum wage.

For those that live in Germany have any of you actually known many people making very low per hour incomes like under 4 euro's an hour?

In Germany, there is no official "federal" minimum wage. But like in Austria, most industries and branches have a de-facto one because every year their employer representatives are bargaining the sector's minimum wages and other wages with the employee's representatives. And in most of these branches the minum wage is at about 8-10€ I think.

I think the federal minimum wage is a good thing because it avoids wage dumping and that is a serious issue because more and more Germans are forced by the Labor agencies to take precarious 1€-jobs. But hey, we are living in the 21st century, so every person should get a good amount of money for their work and not be exploited by the companies like 100-200 years ago. People go before company profits and the minimum wage is a good first step towards easing the pressure of people who have fix-costs of at least 800$ a month.

Even better of course would be a basic income of about 800€ a month. Enough to cover most of your monthly fix-costs, but not enough to actually lay back and relax so that you still look for well-payed work.

[Franzl]

I'm actually quite surprised that Germany didn't have a minimum wage.

For those that live in Germany have any of you actually known many people making very low per hour incomes like under 4 euro's an hour?

It's pretty seldom, but I've heard of it happening before.

[Tender Branson]

A new ZDF poll by FGW shows that most Germans want the minimum wage:

* 24% want a federal law that ensures the SAME minimum wage for ALL branches
* 47% want a federal law for ALL branches, but with DIFFERENT minimum wages
* 13% want a minimum wage only for some branches (status-quo)
* 10% want no minimum wage at all
*   6% are undecided

http://politbarometer.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/11/0,1872,8367115,00.html

[greenforest32]

A new ZDF poll by FGW shows that most Germans want the minimum wage:

* 24% want a federal law that ensures the SAME minimum wage for ALL branches
* 47% want a federal law for ALL branches, but with DIFFERENT minimum wages
* 13% want a minimum wage only for some branches (status-quo)
* 10% want no minimum wage at all
*   6% are undecided

http://politbarometer.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/11/0,1872,8367115,00.html

Branches = different industries/sectors of the economy?

[Tender Branson]

A new ZDF poll by FGW shows that most Germans want the minimum wage:

* 24% want a federal law that ensures the SAME minimum wage for ALL branches
* 47% want a federal law for ALL branches, but with DIFFERENT minimum wages
* 13% want a minimum wage only for some branches (status-quo)
* 10% want no minimum wage at all
*   6% are undecided

http://politbarometer.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/11/0,1872,8367115,00.html

Branches = different industries/sectors of the economy?

Yes, such as the metal industry, retail trade industry, hair-dressers, painters, construction workers and about 40 or so others.