90

The interprofessional legal minimum wage was not introduced in Germany until 2015. It marked a major step in recognizing the inability of the system of collective bargaining to continue to guarantee, on its own, decent working conditions for many employees. The outlook is broadly positive: the minimum wage has helped to limit wage inequality, temporarily at least; it has benefited many employees; and price rises of certain goods and services turned out to be innocuous, against a general backdrop of moderate inflation. The issue of circumvention of the law is, however, far from resolved. While the minimum wage has not in any event had a significant negative impact on jobs, it has failed to help a great many workers to get out of poverty, due to too few hours worked.