Overview
- The government pledged a roughly €24 rise to the statutory minimum wage, taking the SMIC to €1,502 per month and describing the move as an above‑inflation adjustment.
- Labour Minister Jean‑Pierre Farandou said the effective gain is closer to 0.6% because an €18 inflation indexation had already been applied earlier.
- Paris also offered targeted steps to boost paychecks: extending a tax‑free employer fuel bonus of up to €1,000 and raising the tax‑free overtime ceiling to €10,000.
- Unions called the package insufficient and immediately mobilized new action, with education-sector strike calls and coordinated national protests scheduled for Nov. 10 and Nov. 17.
- The government argues larger SMIC hikes would threaten jobs — projecting about 230,000 positions at risk for a rise to €1,700 — as France faces weak growth and high living costs for energy, fuel and food.