German Minimum Wage – Not Just The Money

The statutory minimum wage has significantly improved job quality and work satisfaction of low-paid employees in Germany. Hourly as well as gross wages increased after its introduction despite a drop in working time. Although jobs of minimum wage employees have become more demanding, workers have also reported a more motivational management style, an improved atmosphere among colleagues, and a better work-life-balance. Raising the lowest wages appears to have led firms to increase the workload on the one hand, and to focus on motivating employees on the other.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: Germany's minimum wage effect: Fewer workers receiving unemployment aid http://www.europeansources.info/record/germanys-minimum-wage-effect-fewer-workers-receiving-unemployment-aid/

ESO: Background information: Germany approves first-ever national minimum wage (ESPN Flash Report No.49/2015 (July 2015)) http://www.europeansources.info/record/germany-approves-first-ever-national-minimum-wage/

ESO: Background information: The minimum wage in Germany: what brought the state in? (Journal of European Public Policy Vol.23, No.8, September 2016) http://www.europeansources.info/record/the-minimum-wage-in-germany-what-brought-the-state-in/

Social Europe, 22.06.18: Germany’s Minimum Wage Has Reduced Wage Inequality https://www.socialeurope.eu/germanys-minimum-wage-has-reduced-wage-inequality

Hans Böckler Stiftung: Macroeconomic Policy Institute (IMK): IMK Report, No.141, September 2018: The positive economic impact of Germany's statutory minimum wage - an econometric analysis https://www.boeckler.de/pdf/p_imk_report_141e_2018.pdf

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