This is a subtlety that only the job market – or a good Kafka novel – is capable of. In France, the rule is clear and strict: it is prohibited to pay an employee below the minimum wage. However, almost half of the professional branches – in August, 80 branches with more than 5,000 employees out of 171, according to the Ministry of Labor – offer salary scales below the limit. Despite this, employees in these branches end up being paid the minimum wage – we repeat, it is obligatory. To stay on track, the companies concerned pay the missing amount between the given salary and the minimum salary authorized in France.
What is the point, then, of these salary scales below the legal salary? The idea is not to pay employees less than the minimum wage, but to keep them at this level of remuneration for as long as possible. Explanation from Anne Eydoux, economics lecturer at Cnam: “When a branch has a salary scale with several steps below the minimum wage, if employees cannot be paid less, they can remain stuck at the minimum wage. Salary increases and other promotions will not necessarily raise them above. “. In fact, with or without promotion, he will be paid the same salary: 1,743 euros gross in September 2023. Certain professional sectors are even specialists in it: in rubber, there are 14 salary scales below the minimum wage.
A minimum wage that increases much faster than salaries
Beyond this very “practical” sleight of hand, another reason explains these salary scales below the minimum wage: its rapid increase. The law is once again strict: the minimum wage must be increased every time inflation exceeds 2%. What happens often lately, you will have noticed it each time you go to the checkout. Consequence: the minimum wage has been increased four times in two years, going from 1,230 euros net in September 2021 to 1,383.08 euros. And even seven times in total since January 1, 2021, lists Gilbert Cet, doctor in economics at Neoma Business School. With a total increase of 13.5%.
“Traditional” salaries evolve at a much slower pace. The explanation is simple: only one annual salary discussion point is obligatory for companies. There is no obligation to increase wages outside the minimum wage – “the automaticity of the thing was prohibited by the Maurois government in 1983”, explains Gilbert Cet. As a result, it happens that the lowest salaries offered by certain sectors find themselves below the minimum wage, as this has increased so much. And this remains legal: “It is obligatory to negotiate salaries once a year, but not to say yes, nor to place them at the minimum wage level,” adds Héloïse Petit, economics professor at Cnam.
Government to the rescue?
Over the year 2022, the average salary, for example, increased by 3.8% – compared to inflation of 5.2% over 12 months and a minimum wage increasing by 6.6%, according to INSEE. The decline in salaries is undeniable: “There is clearly a loss of purchasing power over the last two years for average and high salaries,” admits Gilbert Cet. “Someone has to pay the bill for inflation. However, the minimum wage is increased automatically and social benefits, such as pensions, indexed to price increases. Only the employees or our children remain, via the public debt. »
Why can’t they make things happen? “The salary scales are barely able to move due to the balance of power that is unfavorable to the union organizations,” estimates Anne Eydoux. Furthermore, the latter have little weight in company decisions, unlike what happens in Germany for example” Which also explains, for Héloïse Petit, that “large salaries increase more than small ones. The most qualified employees benefit from personal negotiations and do not depend on branch agreements. »
The fact remains that a new weight comes into play, and not the least important: the government. The latter has long been demanding an increase in minimum salary scales – the Minister of Labor was already talking about it in June 2022. A new milestone could be reached this Monday during the social conference, since according to information from The Sunday Tribune, Elisabeth Borne threatens to sanction employers who maintain salary scales below the minimum wage. And the dynamic is already there: if there were 80 branches out of 171 concerned in August, the Ministry of Labor counted 147 in June. Come on, one more effort.