This will be one of the hobby horses of the new Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, as he declared during his general policy speech to the National Assembly this Tuesday.
After expressing concern last week to union leaders about the “
smicardization
” of French society, the tenant of Matignon said he wanted to
“de-smicardize France”
.
“We must evolve a system which has led us, for decades, to concentrate our aid, our exemptions, at the level of the minimum wage,”
he declared, adding that,
“from the next finance bill, we will begin to reform this system
.
A France on minimum wage, really?
Today there are a record number of employees paid at the level of the minimum growth wage, or SMIC.
“The percentage of employees affected by the revaluation of the minimum wage is at a historically high level
,” notes the group of experts on the minimum wage in its latest report, published last November.
As of January 1, 2023, 3.1 million private sector employees (excluding agriculture) were paid the minimum wage, or 17.3%.
A proportion which exceeds
“by 1 point the highest value observed since 1991 (16.3% of employees concerned in 2005)”
, underlines the group of experts on the minimum wage.
The share of people paid the minimum wage has been on a steep upward trend for three years.
In 2021, this proportion was 12%, then 14.5% in 2022. Thus, between January 1, 2021 and January 1, 2023, more than a million additional workers saw their remuneration fall to the level of the minimum wage.
Also read Does being on the RSA really pay more than working for the minimum wage?
The minimum wage increased seven times in two and a half years
A phenomenon which is largely explained by the numerous automatic increases in the minimum wage over the last three years, driven by inflation.
“This is the first time since the beginning of the 1990s that we have observed a growth in the minimum wage greater than 6% over one year”
in 2023, explains the group of experts, which specifies that the minimum wage was not revalued less than
“seven times from January 1, 2021 to May 1, 2023 with a cumulative increase of +13.5%, including +6.6% year-on-year to January 1, 2023, the highest annual increase since 1991”
.
Today, the amount of the monthly minimum wage reaches 1766.92 euros gross, and 1398.70 € net.
“However, the scale of the increases is one of the factors explaining the evolution of the share of beneficiaries of these increases in the minimum wage,”
indicates the group of experts, also citing among the explanatory factors
“the change in the composition of the minimum wage.” structure of employees according to their salary level, the distribution of salary levels in relation to branch minimums, or even the timetables and content of negotiations of these branch minimums
.
Behind this, the committee of experts, responsible for submitting an annual report to the government, discusses in particular the types of jobs created in recent years, which are often in low-skilled professions.
But also the fact that successive increases in the minimum wage have pushed the minimums of certain professional branches below the minimum wage - even if no employee can be paid below the legal minimum -, forcing them in theory to open negotiations to comply .
To which some are reluctant, which pushed Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne to threaten the branches concerned during her social conference last October.
His successor at Matignon, Gabriel Attal, followed in his footsteps this Tuesday, promising to act
"resolutely"
so that professional branches with minimums below the minimum wage
"raise these remunerations"
, excluding
"no measure"
to achieve quick results.
In summary,
it is true that France has never had - at least since 1991 - so many employees paid at the minimum wage level, according to data from the group of experts on the minimum wage.
In total, 17.3% of private sector employees are paid the minimum wage.
We can therefore effectively speak of
“smicardization”
of the world of work.
A phenomenon that can largely be attributed to the numerous increases in the minimum wage over the past three years, caused by the surge in consumer prices.