Wage increases, ALG II and minimum wages: Comments on a television discussion with Ottmar Schreiner and Hartmut von der Tann

In the current discussion on the introduction of minimum wages, the growing earnings gap in Germany is frequently mentioned by minimum-wage advocates. This appraisal is backed up with a reference to real wage development in Germany. But for this development the price-adjusted "net earnings per employee in the overall economy" is mostly used. Is this an adequate measurement of prosperity? And how high in fact are the transfer payments that are made available to a recipient of Unemployment Benefits II (ALG II) with and without extra earnings? This article contains more information on a statistic that is often used in the public discussion.