Statutory minimum wage
Unlike Austria, Germany has a single nationwide statutory minimum wage per working hour. This page explains how the minimum wage is set and adjusted; the amount shown is the hourly rate in force for 2026.
Germany has a statutory minimum wage
Since 1 January 2015 Germany has had a single, nationwide statutory minimum wage. It is set out in the Minimum Wage Act (Mindestlohngesetz, MiLoG) and is defined as a gross amount per working hour, that is, pay for each hour actually worked. This floor applies to essentially all employees, whatever their industry or federal state and whatever their nationality.
That makes Germany quite different from Austria, which has no statutory minimum wage: there the pay floors are negotiated sector by sector in collective agreements. In Germany a look at the statute is enough to know the general minimum wage. Sector minimums declared binding under the Posted Workers Act can sit above it; they take precedence over the general floor only where they are not lower than it (§ 1(3) MiLoG).
The current minimum wage
The statutory minimum wage is 13,90 € gross per working hour (from 2026). A further step to 14,60 € is already fixed for 2027. Legal basis: § 1(2) MiLoG together with MiLoV5 (BGBl. 2025 I Nr. 268; Berichtigung Nr. 312) §1.
| Effective from | Gross per working hour | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| 1 January 2025 | 12,82 € | MiLoV4 (BGBl. 2023 I Nr. 321) |
| 1 January 2026 (current) | 13,90 € | MiLoV5 (BGBl. 2025 I Nr. 268; Berichtigung Nr. 312) §1 |
| 1 January 2027 | 14,60 € | MiLoV5 (BGBl. 2025 I Nr. 268; Berichtigung Nr. 312) §1 |
The amounts come from the Minimum Wage Act and its ordinances; if either changed recently it may not be reflected here yet, and none of them has been through our final sign-off.
How the minimum wage is set and adjusted
The level of the minimum wage is not fixed permanently in the statute. § 1(2) MiLoG names only a historical baseline and works as an enabling clause: the amount is changed by ordinance of the federal government, on a proposal from the Minimum Wage Commission (Mindestlohnkommission).
The commission is a standing, independent body. It is reappointed every five years and is made up of a chair, six voting members drawn from the employer and employee sides, and two non-voting academic advisory members (§ 4 MiLoG). As a rule it decides on an adjustment every two years, weighing the protection of employees, fair conditions of competition, employment, and an orientation towards collectively agreed pay developments that it follows with a lag (§ 9 MiLoG).
The proposal is turned into an ordinance; this needs no approval from the Bundesrat and takes effect on the date named in the decision (§ 11 MiLoG). Because a single decision can set the increase for several coming years at once, more than one step (for example a run of annual increases) can already be fixed even though it only takes effect later. That is exactly what the table above shows.
Who is not covered
The principle is simple: the minimum wage applies to everyone. But § 22 MiLoG lists a few narrowly drawn exceptions, and it pays to read them carefully, because a shortened rule of thumb quickly misleads. It is not that everyone under 18 is excluded, only young people without a completed vocational qualification. The individual exceptions (young people, apprentices and volunteers, the previously long-term unemployed during their first six months, and certain internships) are set out with their exact reference in the frequently asked questions below.
An hourly rate, not a monthly one
The Minimum Wage Act only ever fixes an amount per working hour, never a monthly wage. A monthly full-time figure is always only a convenience conversion: the hourly rate multiplied by the contractually agreed hours. How large that monthly figure turns out to be therefore depends solely on the agreed weekly working time, not on the law. That is why this page deliberately gives no fixed minimum monthly wage: there is no single one that could be stated reliably.
Payment has a clear deadline: wages for the hours worked in a month are due at the latest on the last banking business day of the following month (§ 2(1) MiLoG). Agreements that fall below the minimum wage are void, and an entitlement that has accrued can be given up only through a court settlement (§ 3 MiLoG).
Not to be confused with severance pay
The minimum wage is a running entitlement to pay for hours worked – it has nothing to do with a payment on dismissal. Whether and how much severance pay is even available follows entirely different rules under the Dismissal Protection Act – and, unlike the minimum wage, there is no general statutory right to it there.
Minimum wage: frequently asked questions
Source: Minimum Wage Act (MiLoG), last consulted on gesetze-im-internet.de on 22 July 2026.
The amounts shown are the rates in force, taken from the source cited above. If the ordinance changed recently it may not be reflected here yet, and none of them has been through our final sign-off — what governs is the cited version of the Act.