By IRNA,
Berlin : Millions of Germans are working for only a handful of euros an hour, according to a study released by the University of Duisburg-Essen on Tuesday.
Some 6.5 million people work for low wages of which one million had a gross earning of less than five euros an hour in 2008.
Around two million people were working for six euros an hour, the report added.
Nearly 12.8 percent of the workforce in the eastern part of Germany, what used to be formerly communist East Germany, were earning less than six euros an hour, compared to 5.4 percent of west German workers.
The overall number of people with low wages surged from 2.3 million n 1998 to 6.55 million in 2008.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives have resisted introducing a national minimum wage, arguing it would drive some employers out of business and destroy jobs.
Instead, the government has approved the introduction of minimum wages for certain sectors of the German economy.