More than a million employees working in Germany in geriatric care are to receive higher wages by 2022. It is hoped that by increasing the minimum wage, more people will be attracted to the care-giving industry.

The gap in the care industry

There is a growing worker shortage in the geriatric care industry in Germany, with only 27 applicants per 100 vacancies. Far from improving, experts predict that the situation will actually get worse over the coming years, with the number of unfilled posts expected to reach the hundreds of thousands. 

In order to try to attract people to work in the care industry, therefore, the nursing commission has for the first time set a minimum wage for nurses and nursing assistants working in geriatric care.

Raising minimum wage for nurses

The increase in minimum wage is expected to benefit more than a million employees. For nursing assistants, the minimum wage will rise to 12,55 euros per hour by April 1, 2022. For nurses, there will be a minimum wage of 15 euros for the first time from July 1, 2021. This is expected to increase to 15,40 euros by April 1, 2022. The nursing commission also wants more to add six more vacation days by 2022.

Currently, the minimum nursing care wage is 11,35 euros in West Germany and 10,85 in the East but applies only to auxiliary workers. The minimum wage will be raised in 4 steps, starting from July 1, 2020. The long-demanded uniform minimum wage for East and West is scheduled for September 1, 2021 and will be set at 12 euros.

The final increase will be to 12,55 on April 1, 2022. A new minimum wage is set to be introduced for trained nursing staff with at least one year of training and will amount to 13,20 euros by April 1, 2022.