Germany Approves Hike in Minimum Wage to 12 Euros From October

Germany’s lower house of parliament approved an increase in the minimum wage to 12 euros ($12.89) an hour from Oct. 1, which Labor Minister Hubertus Heil said will benefit more than six million people working in Europe’s largest economy.

The legislation, which will get final approval from the upper house of parliament next Friday, will mostly benefit women and people in the former communist eastern states, Heil said in a tweet. It will also help low-income workers cope with surging costs for food and heating, which have helped push Germany’s inflation rate to a record.