Posted Dec 15 2022 at 8:58 amUpdated 15 Dec. 2022 at 12:54
The SMIC will increase by 1.8% on January 1, 2023 under the effect of the automatic revaluation applied at the start of each year, according to a calculation made by “Les Echos”. These figures were confirmed on Thursday by the Ministry of Labor.
The legal minimum wage will go from 11.07 to 11.27 euros gross per hour. It will thus reach 1,709.28 euros per month (1,353 euros net) for 35 hours per week. That is just over 30 euros more, after a revaluation of 14 euros a year ago (+0.9%).
Since then, the legal minimum wage has seen two more: by 2.6% on 1is May then by 2% on 1is last August. That is 120 euros gross per month more in total, 1is next January included, and even 155 euros if we bring the cursor back to 1is October 2021, date of the first infra-annual revaluation for several years.
Last boost in 2012
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. 1is January 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.
In its latest report and as in all the previous ones, the group of independent experts on the minimum wage recommended that the government refrain from any additional boost on 1is next January. Among other reasons put forward, going beyond the automatic upgrading would, according to him, be detrimental to the employment of the most vulnerable people. His argument is based on a study that identifies “possibly negative” effects on employment.
Barring a huge surprise, the government will not grant anything more, faithful to its policy of supporting businesses and because the revaluation protects de facto the purchasing power of employees paid at the minimum wage. On the other hand, the executive did not react to another recommendation of the group of experts: to index the SMIC on the minima of branches negotiated between unions and employers, as in the Netherlands or in Germany.