Posted Apr 14, 2023, 11:51 AMUpdated on Apr 14, 2023, 12:22 PM
In these times, good news on purchasing power, it does not sulk. Visiting a supermarket in Eure-et-Loir this Friday morning, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced that the minimum wage would increase on 1is May of “just over 2%”. The consequence once again of inflation which remains at a very high level: the rise in consumer prices reached 5.7% in March over twelve months, INSEE said on Friday morning.
As a reminder, apart from a boost at the discretion of the government – François Hollande is the last president to have granted one in 2012 – the law provides for two revaluation mechanisms. On January 1 of each year, according to a formula that combines inflation of the first quintile of households excluding tobacco and gain in purchasing power of the basic hourly wage of workers and employees (SHBOE).
Then during the year, if the price index of the first quintile has gained more than 2% since that taken into account during the previous revaluation. The minimum wage then increases in the same proportion.
Automatic mechanism
It is this second automatic mechanism that will apply on 1is may. According to calculations by “Les Echos”, the reference price index indeed increased by 2.19% between November (which served as the basis for the automatic revaluation of 1is January) and March (just published by INSEE). This should therefore lead to raising the hourly rate of the minimum wage to 11.51 euros gross and 9.11 euros net. For a full-time 35-hour week, the 2.19% increase will represent 37 euros gross and nearly 30 euros net more each month.
This will be the second increase of the year. On January 1, the legal minimum wage had indeed increased by 1.8% to reach 1,709 euros gross and 1,353 euros net per month for 35 hours per week. This had represented 30 euros gross more per month. In 2022, the legal minimum wage saw three increases, the 1is January, May 1 and August 1.
Overwriting of salary grids
As always, the progression of the SMIC will cause a crushing of the salary grids since the employees already paid at this level will be caught up by those paid below whose salary will necessarily have to be raised. This explains why the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, also put a little pressure on employers this Friday.
“I invite all the professional branches that can to also mobilize to respond to this first concern of the French which is purchasing power, therefore to renegotiate their salary scales as quickly as possible”, declared the head of government. To companies, she said that they “can also take advantage of tax-exempt purchasing power bonuses to respond to purchasing power concerns”.
And to draw a division of tasks between the different actors: “It is important that everyone acts; the government has done it on energy, the distributors are doing it by cutting back on their margins and the employers must also respond to this concern for the purchasing power of the French. »