France moves minimum wage hike up to Dec. 1
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the SMIC will rise 1.6% to 1,501.6 euros a month after tax; the CGT union has called a strike for Nov. 17.
France will raise its minimum wage 1.6% on Dec. 1, a month ahead of schedule, taking the SMIC to 1,501.6 euros a month after tax. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced the move Monday at the Hôtel de Matignon, his Paris office, after a conference with unions and employers, according to the government's official transcript.
Together with earlier rises, the minimum wage has gone up 5.3% in 2026, about 75 euros a year after tax. Lecornu called it "the second-largest increase in 20 years."
The SMIC now stands at 12.31 euros an hour before tax, or 1,867.02 euros a month for a 35-hour week, a level in force since June 1 under a decree in the Journal Officiel. The decree setting the December gross figure has not been published.
The SMIC, France's wage floor, rises every Jan. 1 and also whenever inflation passes a set threshold. Only the timing changes this time: the increase would have arrived automatically in January 2027.
The package goes further. Next year the government keeps its fuel bonus, worth up to 1,000 euros, and the tax exemption on the 75% of public transit costs that employers reimburse. It also plans to strengthen the profit-sharing bonus, raise the overtime exemption cap and set up a wage monitoring committee.
Unions had wanted more. Marylise Léon of the CFDT welcomed the earlier date but called the rise "insufficient"; her union had asked for 100 euros more a month after tax. Sophie Binet, general secretary of the CGT, called the measure "crumbs."
The CGT also has its own math. Of the 23 euros a month the rise adds, it says, 18 are the January increase that was already due, leaving about 5 as the government's extra push. The official statement does not break down the 1.6%.
The CGT has called a strike and march for Nov. 17.
