Germany's finance ministry is warning against the introduction of a minimum wage, which could set Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck on a collision course with Chancellor Angela Merkel, a magazine reported on Saturday.
Both Merkel and Vice Chancellor Franz Muentefering, who is also labour minister, favour introducing a minimum wage to protect the economy from a flood of cheap labour once workers from the new eastern members of the European Union are allowed to work in Germany in 2011.
But finance ministry experts warn that it would be very risky for the country's labour policies.
"A large percentage of jobs below the minimum wage could be cancelled," aides to Steinbrueck wrote in an internal memorandum quoted by the weekly Germany magazine Der Spiegel.
Germany's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 11.4 percent in March from 11.3 percent in February.
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