On the occasion of the evaluation of the minimum wage published by the BMAS, Steffen Kampeter, Chief Executive of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations, explains:

No reason for political interference and intervention in the decision-making of the Minimum Wage Commission

Berlin, 15 December 2020: "In the past five years, since the introduction of the statutory minimum wage, both the constellation of the Minimum Wage Commission and the adjustment system for minimum wage development have proven their worth. This is now also confirmed by the evaluation of the minimum wage published today by the BMAS.

There is therefore no reason for political interference and intervention in the decision-making of the Minimum Wage Commission and no reason to damage the autonomy of collective bargaining. The minimum wage is once again becoming a political pawn in the upcoming election year.

The plan from parts of politics to write a minimum wage limit from the bag of tricks of statistics as an additional criterion into the Minimum Wage Act is not only superfluous, it is also dangerous. A minimum wage of 12 euros would today interfere with more than 190 collective agreements and make more than 570 collectively negotiated wage groups obsolete. Such a minimum wage limit would create an enormous upward wage spiral and thus unceremoniously eliminate the labour market for the low-skilled.

Moreover, this arbitrary wage cap would be repeated every year. Such a system is, quite apart from the current Corona-related economic crisis, completely irresponsible in terms of labour market policy. It would be more effective to decide on measures to ease the burden on the economy than to promise supposed improvements for low-income earners with Munchausen's proposals. Poverty is not fought with counterproductive shop window policies, but with good framework conditions for jobs and employment."