German minimum wage exceptions

The long-term unemployed, those aged under 18, those on placement, people delivering newspapers and seasonal workers are all groups of workers who will be excluded from the new German minimum wage of €8.50 (£7.05) an hour when it begins to come into force next year.

This is the result of a compromise within the government coalition between the centre-right CDU/CSU who wanted more exceptions, and the social democratic SPD who wanted fewer.

The government estimates that in 2013, there were 180,000 long-term unemployed who found jobs and so would have been affected by the exception, which excludes them from the minimum wage for the first six months of employment.

The legislation introducing the minimum wage is set to be passed by the summer and there may still be further changes during its passage through parliament.