BERLIN, June 26 (Reuters) - A German government-appointed commission on Monday proposed raising the minimum wage to 12.41 euros ($13.53) per hour from 2024 and to 12.82 euros from January 2025, although analysts said the hike was not enough to compensate for inflation.

Raising the minimum wage, which increased to 12 euros per hour in October from 10.45, was one of the key election promises of Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his Social Democrats. A hike would be likely to directly affect almost 6 million employees in Germany.

The country has the second-highest minimum wage in the European Union behind Luxemburg, which mandates a monthly minimum of 2,387 euros. If the proposed increase in Germany is approved, the euro zone's largest economy would see workers earn at least 2,054 euros a month.

Only six EU countries have a national minimum wage above 1,500 euros per month, including Luxembourg, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland and France, Eurostat data showed.

Stubbornly high inflation and interest rate hikes by the European Central Bank have been significantly dampening people's purchasing power in Europe's biggest economy. The business mood has also been declining.

The sharp rise in inflation is hitting lower incomes particularly hard so another hike in the minimum wage is justified - but the rise proposed this time is too small, said Carsten Brzeski, global head of macro at ING.

"The increase now proposed is very moderate and is too little to make up for the increased cost of living," he said.

Joerg Kraemer, chief economist at Commerzbank, said the proposal is moderate compared to the increase of 15% in October last year, which made labour costs rise sharply in the lower salary ranges.

"Companies will try to pass that on to their customers, which should help keep underlying inflation high for the time being," Kraemer said.

Holger Schimieding, chief economist at Berenberg, said: "For those on the minimum wage, this is disappointing." But he noted that it followed a big hike last October.

"For companies that increase was difficult, but this extra increase should be less challenging." Its pressure on inflation should also be less pronounced than with the previous increase.

"The worst of the inflation of the mininum wage is behind us," he said.

COMMISSION DIVIDED

The Minimum Wage Commission is made up of representatives of employers and trade unions. For the first time, its proposal was not made by a unanimous consensus but by a majority vote.

The proposal still needs to be approved by Labour Minister Hubertus Heil.

"The positions were very far apart," said the chair of the minimum wage commission, Christiane Schoenefeld.

The employers spoke of a difficult environment, while the labour union representatives emphasized that the result was not satisfactory.

It was only an increase of 3.4% and then 3.3%, which means two years of real wage losses, said Stefan Koerzell of the German Trade Union Confederation. There should have been at least an increase to 13.50 euros, Koerzell added. ($1 = 0.9173 euros)

(Reporting by Christian Kraemer, Maria Martinez and Rene Wagner; Writing by Friederike Heine; Editing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Hugh Lawson)