Minimum wage in France to rise again due to increased inflation

The ‘Smic’ increases automatically in line with an index linked to inflation, which figures show is up by 2.01%

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Inflation in France triggers increases in the minimum wage automatically
Hannah Thompson
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The minimum wage in France is set to increase by 2.01% from August this year due to rising inflation.

This is the fourth time it has risen in just over a year, after the most recent increase of 2.65% last May.

Read more: France's minimum wage to rise on May 1 as inflation continues to go up

Monthly Smic wages will now rise by €26 net to reach around €1,328.

The French minimum wage, known as ‘Smic’, rises automatically in line with inflation. Today (July 13), statistics bureau INSEE announced that inflation reached 5.8% in June, year-on-year.

To calculate the Smic rise, INSEE considered rising prices (except for tobacco) affecting 20% of the least-well-off households. This has risen by 2.01% between March and June 2022, and it is this figure which decides the new Smic wage.

In June, rising costs were caused mainly by continually increasing energy prices (up 33.1% year-on-year, compared to 27.8% in May), as well as food prices (up 5.8% compared to 4.3%) and the cost of services (up 3.3% versus 3.2%).

The indice des prix à la consommation harmonisé (harmonised index of consumer prices (IPCH), which serves as a basis for comparison at European level, shows an increase of 6.5% for June over one year, after a rise of 5.8% in May.

If food and fuel are disregarded, prices have remained relatively stable over the year, rising by 3.7%.

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