Leaders from Germany's two largest parties have concluded their negotiations and made a deal on forming a coalition government. As a result of the marathon talks, the parties reached common ground concerning Germany’s economic policy. In particular, the lawmakers consider the consensus on the minimum wage issue as one of the milestones. Until the present, each Germany’s region settled its own benchmark of salaries and wages. These showings differed considerably; for example, such figures turned out to be higher in Western Germany than in the East. However, the Social Democrats secured a nationwide minimum wage of 8.50 euros ($11.55) per hour that will be introduced in 2015. The official data show that 15% of employed males and 25% of employed women fall short of the target wage level countrywide. In the meantime, an average wage rate in Germany is €9.62, while a minimum legal wage equals to €6.35 which is paid to the one fifth of all employees. The main point of the counterpart against the wage rate increase was unemployment growth. The opposition is certain that a rather low level of unemployment in the country, 5.2% versus 12.2% on average in the EU, is explained that employers can afford to settle a wage rate on their own. Experts suppose that the new law will mostly concern unskilled workers whose number is nearly 8 million. Thus, massive redundancy will lead to rising unemployment. For your reference, a lot of developed countries have already implemented fixed minimum legal wages. So, Australia tops the list with $16.88, France settles €9.5, the U.S. ensures $7.25. Russian civil servants suggested bringing in a minimum legal wage at 100 rubles. But securing such a low rate appeared to be beyond the state’s purse.
