EconomyFrance

France moves 1.6% minimum wage rise forward to December

France will bring forward a planned 1.6% minimum wage rise from January to December, after Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced it on Monday, November 9. Unions said the move fell short of their demands and have called for more protests.

Illustration: A crowd of small anonymous figures holding blank plain signs on a picket line outside a workplace, painted in warm light.
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Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said on Monday, November 9, that a planned 1.6% increase in the minimum wage would move up from January to December. The aim is to ease a cost-of-living crisis, the squeeze on household budgets from rising prices, which has fuelled weeks of unrest across France.

The announcement followed talks with trade unions and business leaders. Unions quickly dismissed the offer as "crumbs", and they have called for fresh protests in the coming days.

The government also plans tax measures for businesses and a new round of sector-by-sector pay talks. Higher wages can squeeze profit margins, the share of each sale a company keeps as profit, which are already slim for firms hit by economic difficulties.

Renaud Foucart, a Senior Lecturer at Lancaster University, says the problem goes deeper than pay. "They are in the street because they don't believe politics can achieve anything," he argues, pointing to a loss of faith in politics ahead of the presidential election.

Background

France has seen weeks of unrest over the cost of living. Lecornu met labour groups on the same day to look for solutions.

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