The German parliament has approved the country's first minimum wage, in a vote in the Bundestag yesterday. The wage will be set at 8.50 euros per hour, which is higher than the equivalent in the US and UK.Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats approved the new policy as part of a power-sharing deal with the Social Democratic Party. Germany has previously relied on trade unions and business groups to fix minimum pay instead. At the moment, the country is one of seven in the 28-nation European Union without a minimum wage level.