WSI-Mindestlohnbericht 2022: Aufbruch zu einer neuen Mindestlohnpolitik in Deutschland und Europa

The WSI Minimum Wage Report contains current data on minimum wages from 37 countries in Europe and a selected number of non-European countries. After a weak development of minimum wages in 2021, which reflected economic uncertainty triggered by the Corona pandemic, minimum wages increased at a faster pace at the beginning of 2022. The acceleration came against a backdrop of higher inflation rates, which particularly affect employees in the low-wage sector. In addition, a longer-term trend towards a structural increase in minimum wage levels can be observed in many countries. The objective is to raise minimum wages to an adequate level that does not only meet subsistence needs, but is commensurate with socio-cultural participation in society. With its proposal for a European minimum wage directive, the European Commission has taken up this trend and attempted to establish a common set of criteria for adequate minimum wages in the European Union. Central to this effort are the threshold values for the adequacy of minimum wages, which are commonly set at 60 per cent of the median wage and 50 per cent of the mean wage. With the planned increase of Germany’s minimum wage to 12 €, the country would move away from its long-held position of a straggler to re-position itself at the vanguard of the list of those countries establishing an ad­equate minimum wage in Europe.