Live with dignity from their work. More and more French people feel that they are no longer able to do this. The figures at the bottom of their pay slip, like the balance in their bank account, often prove to them that it is not just a feeling but a reality. Our newspaper gave a voice to some of them, in January 2024. Gabriel Attal, the Prime Minister, made it one of the key elements of his general policy speech a few weeks later: he wants to “de-emcardify France ".
In fact, nearly one in five people (17.3%) is today paid the interprofessional growth minimum wage (smic) in the private sector, compared to 12% at the start of 2021. That is, according to Dares (the statistics service of the Ministry of Labor), 1 million additional people paid the minimum wage between January 1, 2021 and January 1, 2023. Because the minimum wage is increasing, and faster than the salaries just above it, which do not progress at the same speed. Result ? More and more assets are caught up by this minimum level. Indexed to inflation, it rose in three years from 1,230.60 euros net to 1,398.69 euros on January 1, 2024.