The minimum wage revalued in the face of inflation, the rates of the Livret A and the Livret d’épargne populaire (LEP) on the rise, but also the end of the state of health emergency: detailed review of the main measures that come into effect in force in France on 1er August 2022.
High inflation will trigger a new automatic increase in the minimum interprofessional growth wage (smic) on 1er August by 2.01%. Very specifically, the minimum wage for a full-time worker will drop from 1,302.64 euros to 1,329.06 euros net. The hourly rate will go from 8.58 euros to 8.76 euros. This is the fourth increase in the minimum wage in less than a year, after that of 2.65% in May.
Beyond the annual revaluation of January, the minimum wage is automatically increased during the year by the amount of inflation (calculated for the 20% of households with the lowest incomes) if this exceeds 2% compared to the last increase.
- The rate of the Livret A doubles
The rate of Livret A, the savings product held by the most French people, is doubled, from 1 to 2%. This is the second increase this year, after a first doubling of the rate on 1er February, by 0.5%, a historic low, at 1%.
This increase, proposed by the Governor of the Banque de France on July 14 and immediately accepted by the government, is also justified by the rise in prices observed in recent months, which reached 6.1% over one year. in July.
As for the rate of the Popular Savings Book, reserved for people with modest incomes (maximum 20,296 euros per year for a single person), it goes from 2.2% to 4.6%. It had not reached a comparable rate since 1998 (4.5%).
- The revalued back-to-school allowance
The back-to-school allowance (ARS) is paid at the end of August, subject to resources, to families with at least one school-going child aged 6 to 18. It is part of the benefits to be increased by 4% under the bill “purchasing power” to cope with inflation.
For the start of the 2022 school year, the amount is 376.98 euros per child aged 6 to 10, 397.78 euros per child aged 11 to 14 and 411.56 euros per child aged 15 to 18.
- End of the state of health emergency
After more than two years of pandemic, the state of health emergency, an exceptional legal framework decreed in the face of the crisis, will end at the beginning of August. There will be few concrete consequences, since the main restrictions have already been lifted. Only two measures remain on the agenda: maintaining monitoring, which makes it possible to know the number of cases or hospitalizations, as well as the possibility of imposing a detection test for SARS-CoV-2, the result of which is negative for travelers departing from or arriving in France or overseas departments and territories.
In addition, the scientific council, created at the start of the pandemic, is disappearing. It will be replaced by a committee for monitoring and anticipating health risks, created by a decree published in the Official newspaper Sunday July 31. The names of its members will be “communicated in the next few days”said the office of the Minister of Health, François Braun.
This committee, responsible for monitoring “health risks related to infectious agents affecting humans and animals, environmental and food pollutants, and climate change”should in particular “issue recommendations when a screening reveals a health risk”.
- The extended fuel discount
The “fuel discount” 15 centimes per liter of petrol or diesel, excluding taxes, applied since 1er April, has been extended until August 31.
For the time being, it is planned that this bonus will be increased further in September, before phase out by the end of 2022.