The Minister of Labor affirms that an increase in the minimum wage of 150 euros could cause up to 250,000 jobs to disappear and calls for "finding a crest" between unions and employers

The increase in the minimum wage will not take place immediately. “Nothing has been decided,” declared Jean-Pierre Farandou, Minister of Labor and Solidarity, speaking to France Inter this morning. “The minimum wage is not taboo.

(...) At this stage, I have no conviction, I am in the debate, in the discussion. Nothing has been decided.

"After having seen the union and employer organizations for a first round of discussions on an increase in the minimum wage, the minister wants to initiate new discussions and hopes to "achieve convergence around November 5", the date of the next inter-union strike. As a reminder, the minimum wage is the only salary indexed to inflation and reevaluated each year on January 1. But the Minister of the Economy Roland Lescure had left the debates open on an increase in the minimum wage before this date.

If he hears that the current situation in France is "difficult for the French", the Minister of Labor warns of the "increase in labor costs" that such an increase in the minimum wage would cause. “I try for each of the actors to find themselves on a crest path,” he continued. The minister finds himself under pressure from the unions who are demanding an increase of 100 euros in the net minimum wage for the CFDT, or almost 7% increase and 150 euros net per month for the CGT.

“At these levels, we are affecting employment. If you increase wages, it could eliminate 250,000 jobs,” retorted Jean-Pierre Farandou.

“I think that reducing the number of jobs to this level is not good news, because service companies, in particular, can pass on this increase in wages in their prices, and therefore, you increase inflation. We need a balance, otherwise it will be counterproductive even at the social level,” he continued, taking up the employers’ argument. 2.5 billion additional charges per year Because the government also finds itself under fire from criticism from businesses.

The president of Medef, Patrick Martin, estimated that an increase in the minimum wage would only "create chaos in businesses" since it would "be added to" the reduction in employer contributions planned in the government's draft budget. Michel Picon, president of U2P, estimates for his part that the boost to the minimum wage could cost an additional 2.5 billion euros per year, a burden which would weigh mainly on small businesses which employ more people on the minimum wage. The unions, for their part, castigated the employers in the face of these threats, arguing that an increase in the minimum wage would make it possible to revive consumption, and therefore growth.

The general secretary of the CGT Sophie Binet “called on the big bosses to stop with their greedy attitude which is locking us into ”. Especially since the minimum wage was already reevaluated in June following high inflation, without this increase being passed on to the bottom of the salary scales. After this latest increase, the bottom of the salary scales of 122 professional branches, out of a sample of 200, was still below the mandatory minimum wage in mid-October, according to a CGT calculation published Thursday.

Machine-translated from French