Under the effect of inflation, the minimum wage will be raised for the third time in seven months. Up 2.65%, it will reach on 1er May 1,302.64 euros net monthly. A little over two million employees paid at the minimum wage will thus receive 33 euros net more per month. That is, for them, a cumulative increase of 5.75% since the fall of 2021, rare for the rest of the employees, who are not entitled to any automatic revaluation. With this new increase, the minimum wage therefore automatically catches up with the level of the lowest wages.
Thus, at 1er May, 83 more professional branches will see the first level or levels of the grid of their collective agreement caught up by the level of the minimum wage, according to a count of the CFDT. By adding those which had been caught up by the previous revaluations, it will be 144 out of 171 professional branches of more than 5,000 employees who will have minima below the minimum wage, or 84%. This puts companies under pressure, while the subject has provoked a number of strikes and demonstrations in recent months.
“We were no longer used to managing inflation, this gymnastics of constantly redoing prices and salaries, recognizes Eric Chevée, vice-president in charge of social affairs at the Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (CPME). If the question of salary is crucial, both to retain our workforce and to recruit, passing on inflation and the rise in the minimum wage to all salaries is not easy. Much depends on the business model of the company. »
“We can only give what we have”
In Limoges, the construction equipment rental company BLS location raised wages by 5% in all in 2022. In addition to the mandatory annual negotiation, there was an increase imposed by the branch, which renegotiated the grid of the agreement collective. “Fortunately, we have strong backs, but it’s very heavy for SMEs already in tight flow for their cash flow with the soaring prices of energy, raw materials, and the start of repayments of loans guaranteed by the ‘State “, underlines its HRD, Laurence Beaubelique, also president of the CPME of Haute-Vienne.
“We can only give what we have” observes for his part Philippe Jouanny, president of the Federation of cleaning companies. The branch will see its first step drop 1 cent below the minimum wage to 1er May, while the last increase, of 1.05%, only dates from 1er april. “When you make between 1% and 3% margin and your payroll is 80% of the price of the service, if you increase wages by 2%, you no longer make a margin! » he details.
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