PAmid the realities that weigh down the morale of many French people and fuel the protest vote, there is one that stands out at the end of each month: their pay slip. Half of French employees receive less than 2,091 euros per month net – the median salary in 2022 – and a growing proportion of them find themselves relegated to the level of the minimum wage, set at 1,398.69 euros net. While these minimum wage workers only made up 12% of employees just three years ago, today they represent more than 17%, or 3.1 million.
The phenomenon, already observed in the early 2000s, when the 35-hour week became widespread, is not new. The “yellow vest” movement of 2018-2019, triggered by the increase in fuel taxes, highlighted the anger of workers at impossible ends. But the return of inflation since 2022 is pushing even more employees into the “low-wage trap” through a pernicious mechanism.
While the minimum wage, the only one to be legally indexed to price increases, has been increased several times (+12.6% in total since 2021), the basic salary of employees and workers (+9%) has not not followed. Consequence: the battalion of people hitherto paid a little more than the minimum wage, and aspired towards the minimum level, is growing. The feeling of downgrading which grips the victims of this “smicardization” is holy bread for demagogues, in particular the extreme right. This erosion of purchasing power undermines commitment to work and weighs on consumption, the main driver of the French economy.
Maintaining low wages is also reinforced by a system of exemption from charges on the minimum wage alone which encourages employers to keep employees there, as the additional cost to pay to get them out is high. Perversely, an employee “caught up” by the minimum wage is a boon for the boss in terms of exemption from charges.
Take action
It is urgent to correct the deleterious consequences of such mechanisms, without waiting for the slow rebalancing expected from the slowdown in inflation. Emmanuel Macron, promising to “do everything to make work pay better”, during his press conference on January 16, seemed to have understood this. It remains to take action to get out of a situation which, if it depends mainly on the balance of power and negotiations between unions and employers, is also sensitive to the action of the State.
If a return to general wage indexation, abandoned in 1983, cannot constitute a lasting response due to its inflationary nature, it is up to the government to strongly encourage the social partners to raise the conventional minimums in the professional branches where they are below the minimum wage. The State must favor employers who share their profits more equitably with their employees and who motivate the latter by offering them training opportunities to promote skills development and mobility from one company to another, important factors in promotion. .
But the main lever available to the executive is through an overhaul of the system of reducing charges on low salaries. Reduce contributions on salaries slightly above the minimum wage, make exemptions conditional on promotional actions, etc. All incentives to better pay employees must be explored. Social justice, the dignity of workers and the cohesion of the country are at stake.