On the minimum wage, the opposition is wrong in terms of substance and method: look at Germany

The compensation debate must not become a populist bidding contest. The model to look at is the German one: not for the figure just fixed (12 euros), but for the adoption of a commission with transparent procedures

While in Italy a law on the minimum wage is being discussed and the oppositions are looking for a common agreement on the threshold of 9 euros an hour, in Germany there is arguing over the size of the increase. The Commission on the minimum wage has in fact recommended an increase from the current 12 euros (gross) to 12.41 euros in 2024 and 12.82 euros in 2025. The threshold had recently, last October 2022, been increased by the government from 10, 45 to 12 euros per hour. But for the unions, which had proposed 13.50 euros, the increase of 41 cents (3.4 percent) is completely insufficient to offset inflation. Therefore the proposal passed by majority vote, with the vote of technicians and employers’ representatives. It is very probable that Germany with over 12 euros an hour will be used in Italy by the opposition as a model to justify the goodness of a minimum wage of 9 euros an hour. But in reality the German model demonstrates just the opposite: the limits of the proposals of the M5s, the Democratic Party and Action (which seems to converge with the other two parties).