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Germany to have minimum wage

Summary

22 November 2013

Germany is to introduce a national minimum wage. Chancellor Angela Merkel said she'd concede this measure to the Social Democrats with whom she is negotiating to form a coalition government. The move was welcomed by other countries in the Eurozone. 

Reporter:

Steve Evans

Report

Chancellor Merkel said she would accept the minimum wage but, in return, would not accede to Social Democrat calls for higher taxes.

The French finance minister welcomed the floor on German pay as a signal of what he saw as a more cooperative German attitude within overall European economic policy. 

It is not clear, though, that a German minimum wage would transform the European economic situation. It all depends on what level it is set at, and there is great resistance in Germany to doing anything which would make German exports less attractive.