Germany is set to raise its hourly minimum wage to €14.60 ($17.11) by 2027, a government-appointed commission decided on Friday.

The wage increase will take place in two stages.

First, it will be increased from €12.82 per hour to €13.90 at the beginning of 2026.

It will then increase again by €0.70 a year later.

This means German workers would typically earn close to €2,500, making it the second-highest minimum wage in the European Union after Luxembourg, which mandates a monthly minimum of €2,638.

Three other EU countries also have a national minimum wage higher than €2,000 per month: Belgium, the Netherlands and Ireland.

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Who decided to raise the minimum wage?

Germany's Minimum Wage Commission is made up of top representatives from unions and employers.

It votes on wage adjustments every two years, taking into account the growth in incomes.

The commission's proposal must be implemented by the Labor Ministry.

In the lead-up to February's election, the Social Democrats (SPD) campaigned on raising the minimum wage. The party is now the junior member in a coalition with the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

"It's good that the minimum wage commission has reached a consensus," CDU general secretary Carsten Linnemann told Germany's DPA news agency.

"This is social partnership in action and shows that the commission works. Setting wages will remain a matter for the collective bargaining partners in the future." 

The announcement comes as more and more working people in Germany have come to rely on state aid to get by.

Edited by: Kieran Burke

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