Statutory minimum wages

The example of France

France’s SMIC (salaire minimum interprofessionnel de croissance) is adjusted annually on 1 January. Successive adjustments must aim to eliminate long-term distortions between minimum wage increases and increases in the general level of wages .

The SMIC is adjusted by Decree of the Council of Ministers, after a recommendation by the National Collective Bargaining Commission (CNNC). The CNNC comprises 18 workers’ representatives and 18 employers’ representatives.

Since 2008, the CNNC consults an expert group, whose five members are nominated for four years by the Prime Minister. The role of the group is to meet social partners and collect their views on the level and design of the minimum wage; to collect available studies on the effects of the minimum wage; to gain deeper understanding of what is known about the minimum wage in general and in France, particularly regarding employment effects; and to propose new studies on aspects that are less well known or understood.

The CNNC can also recommend – or not - an additional increase, the “coup de pouce”, based on its analysis and various economic factors.