Abstract
According to recent data from the WSI employee survey, the increase in the German minimum wage to 12 euros has led to significant salary increases, reaching over 100 euros on average for employees receiving social insurance. After its introduction in 2015, the German minimum wage has been criticised for having little effect on workers’ earnings due to wide-spread working hour reductions and minimum wage violations. However, the latter could not have been that large as gross earnings in the minimum wage sector increased by a good 18% in price-adjusted terms between 2013 and 2018.