Minimum wage in Germany

Still Confused about what should you ask your employers to pay you? Hope this will give you an Idea. This is an article about the minimum wage in Germany.

Minimum wage is not an old concept in Germany. While it was into existence in other European countries. Germany’s first federal minimum wage was approved in 2014, under the minimum wage act (Mindestlohngesetz). Before this, Germany relied on businesses and trade unions to set minimum wages.

The minimum wage in Germany has increased by €0.35 (4%) in 2019. It is €9.19 per hour, means pre-tax wages of €1,593 for people working full time i.e. standard 40 hours a week. All workers aged 18 or older are paid under this act and around 4 million or more people are paid just the German minimum wage in Germany. The exceptions are also there, people like, who are self-employed, trainees or doing an internship. It will be even more in 2020, from 1 January 2020 it will be €9.35 per hour.

This federal law is not just for the Citizens it is for all the employees, including all the international living and working in Germany, part-time, full-time, interns (depends on the internship). Temporary Workers and people working on contract basis have a different wage level. It was increased to €9.47 an hour in western Germany and €9.27 an hour in eastern Germany since April 2018. The Government established a hotline and salary calculator to calculate your minimum wage base on how many hours you are working. The hotline is called Mindestlohn-Hotline.
Here you can find all the contact numbers like for labor law, mini-jobs, part-time, minimum wage, etc.
https://www.bmas.de/DE/Service/Buergertelefon/buergertelefon.html

According to a report published by XING in 2018, these are the average salaries in various sectors

Banking and finance: €83,371
Insurance: €82,554
Consulting: €75,956
Telecommunications: €72,626
IT: €72,582
Transport: 72,020
Medicine: €71,696
Utilities: €71,747
Engineering: €71,134
Legal: €65,907

What about freelancers and self-employed?

Minimum wage is helping a majority of workers but still, it doesn’t cover people working as freelancers and self-employed. It also doesn’t apply to the internships that last fewer than three months or are part of university courses, volunteer work or apprenticeships.

You can find more details on the exclusion here.
They also monitor underpayment at an industry level, they have employee unions within the industry, Employees can speak with their employer first if that doesn’t resolve the problem they can reach out to the union and can officially register a complaint against it.

Compare different providers in English

Pruefe kostenlos Deine Bonitaet mit bonify

Bank accounts

Travel insurance

Sim card

Private insurance

Liability Insurance

Internet

Credit Card

If you are an student or expat looking for accommodation, bureaucratic help, writing letters in German, filling forms, assistance by a Dolmetscher/Interpreter for visits, job center or any office, translating your CV, cover letter, etc check out our platform here and share your request. You will be connected to our Buddies who are native speakers and locals. They know the processes, your language and are willing to assist you within hours.

If you are willing to help others in these aspects and earn money flexibly, then join us as a Buddy here.

Minimum wage in Germany

What about freelancers and self-employed?