France minimum wage (SMIC) growth compared with Europe, Digi Mart USA News (France): Yannick Jadot said at the end of October on Franceinfo that France is the European country where the minimum wage has risen the least over the past ten years. He added that the French minimum wage had grown twice as slowly as in Germany.
A few days later, Sophie Binet, general secretary of the CGT, made similar remarks in a post on X. So what is the reality?
Between 2016 and 2026, the French gross monthly minimum wage, meaning the legal minimum salary for a full-time position before deduction of social contributions, rose from 1,467 euros to 1,823 euros, an increase of about 24%. That is lower than the increase recorded among France’s neighbors.
Over the same period, the minimum wage rose 50% in the Netherlands and 63% in Germany. Jadot is therefore right on this point: the German increase is more than twice as large.
Why is France falling behind? In France, the SMIC is automatically adjusted for inflation.
However, this indexation is not enough to raise wages significantly. “France has simply applied the automatic adjustments linked to inflation,” said Christine Erhel, director of the Centre d’études de l’emploi et du travail (CEET).
According to the economist, there has been no “proactive policy of raising the minimum wage.” No government boost has been granted since 2012.
As a result, according to Eurofound data, the purchasing power associated with the French minimum wage increased by less than 10% over ten years. France therefore ranks last in the European Union for real growth in the SMIC.
“In real terms, meaning after accounting for inflation, the French minimum wage has barely increased.” In other words, although the amount on the payslip did rise, much of that increase was absorbed by higher prices.
By contrast, several Eastern European countries have recorded dramatic increases: about 140% in Romania and nearly 90% in Croatia and Bulgaria. These increases are partly explained by an economic catch-up effect.
Ten years ago, the minimum wages in these countries were, and still are, well below France’s.
According to the CEET director, the second reason for France’s decline is the more proactive policies of some of its neighbors, including Germany, which has substantially raised its minimum wage since 2019, as well as Spain and Portugal. These countries no longer necessarily view the minimum wage as “a cost weighing on competitiveness,” but rather as “a positive tool” for supporting employment and purchasing power.
What about the cost of living across countries? To refine the comparison, Eurostat adjusts minimum wages for the cost of living using the purchasing power standard (PPS), which accounts for the prices of goods and services in each country.
The same salary buys more where living costs are lower. On this basis, in January 2026, France ranks sixth in Europe, behind Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland.
While Stéphanie Villers, economist at PwC France, believes that “the United Kingdom, France and Germany are within a handkerchief of each other,” Christine Erhel qualifies this analysis: “In PPS, France remains sixth in the EU – excluding the United Kingdom – but with a gap of about 300 euros compared with Germany.” The French minimum wage therefore provides a high standard of living compared with most European countries, but its purchasing power is slightly lower than Germany’s.
