German Governing Coalition May Depend on Federal Minimum Wage

A demand by the Social Democrats

In a German bakery near the Polish border, Janine Jaediel serves a stream of customers who trickle in for coffee and apfelkuchen before the 4 p.m. Saturday close.

Working 30 hours a week at 6.50 euros ($8.81) an hour, Ms. Jaediel has been searching for another job for a year, to no avail. "It's difficult to pay my rent," says Jaediel, who grew up around this border city of Frankfurt an der Oder. "New businesses continue to be created, but there are not enough jobs."

Jaediel is one of the 7 million Germans, most situated in economically less-developed eastern Germany, who earn less than 8.50 euros ($11.40) an hour. But that may be poised to change, as the Social Democrats (SPD) and Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) announced today they would enter full talks to form a coalition government – talks that the SPD have insisted would only begin if the CDU agreed on a federally mandated minimum wage.