French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s government will raise the country’s minimum wage by 1.6% on Dec. 1, bringing monthly net pay to €1,502, the government said.
Lecornu received social partners at Matignon in Paris on Nov. 9 for a conference on wage policy and measures to support purchasing power, according to the government’s announcement.
The government also listed two planned measures: a committee to monitor salaries and a higher cap on the fuel premium. It gave no start dates for either.
Reuters reported that CFDT sought a €100 monthly increase, while CGT called for a 10% rise, or about €150 a month. Lecornu told journalists the planned increase was “the second-biggest increase in 20 years,” Reuters reported.
Eurostat put France’s minimum wage at 67% of median gross earnings in 2024. Its separate 2022 data found that 12.7% of employees in a defined sample earned less than 105% of the minimum wage; that figure applies to the sample and year, not all French employees in 2024.
France 24 had presented the planned talks as addressing cost-of-living concerns amid protests. Reuters reported that the demonstrations began over school funding and later widened to other issues. An earlier EconoTimes account described smaller crowds and clashes in Paris during a weekend of cost-of-living protests.
The minimum-wage increase is scheduled to take effect Dec. 1.
