Labor Costs

Bad Wimpfen – November 10, 2026 -- Lidl Germany will lift its internal minimum entry wage to at least €16 gross per hour nationwide on December 1, 2026, putting it more than 8% above the statutory minimum wage that takes effect in January 2027.

The grocery discounter has run its own entry wage floor since 2010. Nikoletta Kolomburda, Chief People Officer at Lidl Dienstleistung GmbH & Co. KG, said the increase gives new hires a signal of respect and recognition from their first working day.

Floor applies to newcomers, temps and unskilled staff

The wage is aimed mainly at new entrants, part-time helpers and unskilled workers. Lidl pays according to regional retail collective agreements and tops up any pay that would fall below €16 per hour. Pay then rises with qualification, tenure and collective bargaining grade to preserve the pay gap between levels. Lidl says the large majority of its employees earn noticeably more than the floor.

Wiesbaden – November 05, 2026 -- German employers paid €49.41 per hour worked in Hamburg in 2024, the highest of any federal state and €13.01 more than in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where the figure was €36.40, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). The national average was €44.32 per hour.

Eastern states and Schleswig-Holstein stay below €40 an hour

Destatis groups the 16 states into three tiers with similar labor costs. The lowest tier comprises the eastern non-city states and Schleswig-Holstein, with costs between €36.40 in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and €39.95 in Schleswig-Holstein. Saxony-Anhalt was the second-cheapest state at €36.53.

A middle tier of Saarland, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate ranged from €42.53 in Saarland to €44.15 in Rhineland-Palatinate.