Studio Guest – Professor Wolfgang Gerke on Minimum Wages
- 00:00:17
- DW-World
Studio Guest – Professor Wolfgang Gerke on Minimum Wages
Professor Wolfgang Gerke is the President of the Bavarian Finance Center in Munich. DW-TV: That must be quite disheartening for the staff. Joining us now is Prof. Wolfgang Gerke, president of the Bavarian Finance Centre. What do you think, will this lady, Rosemarie Bartsch, be in trouble after having spoken out? Wolfgang Gerke: She is running high risk. Fortunately she has the tv with her and perhaps it will help her. DW-TV: What exactly has the minimum wage - if it's actually being paid - done for those parts of industry, like the commercial cleaning sector? Wolfgang Gerke: For sure the minimum wages aren't loved by industry and if we take the construction sector, there we can see that the minimum wage did not cause job losses and I think we have much too dark a picture of the minumum wage, if they are not too high. Then even the different branches can accept them. DW-TV: What about the employer? Any benefits here? Wolfgang Gerke: Benefits i would not say, but there are so many benefits for the workers, that everyone should accept the minumum wages. DW-TV: Compared to other European states, Germany actually lags behind when it comes to minimum wages though within Europe, there a huge differences: Bulgaria's minimum wage is clearly the lowest with 53 Cent an hour. France is the most generous with 8 euros 40. And in Germany, trade unions are calling for a minimum wage of 7 euros 50. Is that a lot? Wolfgang Gerke: No. We see very different columns there but if we compare the countries we have to compare us with France and not with Bulgaria. We have very different living costs in Germany, higher living costs, and therefore 7,50 is not very much. DW-TV: Would a general minimum wage actually make sense across all parts of industry? Woflgang Gerke: Yes, for sure it makes sense, for the workers especially, but then it should not be too high, if it is too high, we will get more illegal work and therefore I think we can take two kinds of minimum wages: a basic and then for every – a different one. DW-TV: Right now, Germany has sector-specific wages which seems to make sense, and also seems to be a fair solution - why should it be changed? Wolfgang Gerke: Scientists especially are against them, they think minimum wages will cause job losses but if we don´t exaggerate and take too high minumum wages, that will not be the case. DW-TV: But nevertheless you said, a minimum wage would bring about more advantages than disadvantages, so we should not overlook the advantage and introduce it after it all. Wolfgang Gerke: We have social responsibility for everyone and therefore we absolutely need minimum wages. Interview: Monika Jones
DW-World | November 20, 2007
