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Minimum Wage Germany
The third Merkel cabinet within a coalition between the social democratic party SPD and the conservative party CDU introduced the mandated minimum wage law Gesetz zur Regelung eines allgemeinen Mindestlohns at the first of January 2014. The minimum wage was the main demand of the SPD for the coalition talks in 2013 (1) and represented a long social policy demand. During its introduction the minimum wage was set at 8,50€. The amount is adjusted every two years by the German government which is consulted by a minimum wage commission. In November 2018, the minimum wage is at 8,84€ and is expected to rise up to 9,19€ per hour and to 9.35€ per hour in 2020 (3). The minimum wage replaced the tariff wage for branches that set a wage below the minimum wage

Controversy of a Minimum wage in Germany
The minimum wage was one of the most controversial topics during the election campaign for the German parliament in 2013. Whereas the social democratic party, the green party and the lefts were in favor of a general minimum wage, the liberals and conservatives kept skeptical. Leading economic research institutions like the CESifo Group Munich warned against the introduction of a minimum wage of 8,50€. According to a study of the Center for Economic Studies of the ifo Institute, the minimum wage was predicted to risk around 900,000 jobs, especially in the eastern part of Germany.(4)In contradiction to many economist in Germany, a study from the London School of Economics and Political Science has found that the minimum wage did not lead to job losses. The Economic Policy research discussion paper analyzed employment levels in Germany across different regions from 2011 to 2016 and found that unemployment even felt in regions with lower wages for a period in 2015 (5). However, a study of the German Institute for Economic Research showed that the minimum wage increased the hourly wage, but not total income of people who work in the low-wage sector. Since hourly wages increased, working hours decreased simultaneously to offset higher costs.