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Archive photo · 5 November 2026France Raises Minimum Wage 1.6% to €1,502 Net, After Protests
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Minimum wage rises 1.6% to net €1,502 per month. Increase brought forward to December to quell escalating cost-of-living protests.
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Minimum wage raised
France raised its minimum wage by 1.6% on Monday, Labor Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou announced, and the increase brings the full-time minimum wage to €1,502 net per month starting December 1. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the increase "is not enough" but "launches a cycle of discussions on wage increases" after talks with unions and employers. France’s government said the move was intended to calm protests that had begun in French high schools in September and grew into a nationwide movement demanding higher wages and better public services.
France’s Interior Ministry counted 575,000 demonstrators nationwide on November 5, while the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) put the figure at nearly 1.6 million. France’s government also said it would extend a tax-free fuel allowance of up to 1,000 euros, and it would raise the tax-free cap for overtime to 10,000 euros next year.
Unions reject the offer
Sophie Binet, leader of the CGT, criticized the government’s package as "crumbs" and said, "We didn't come here to beg for alms." Binet also said the increase represents only "five euros, because the rest corresponds to the rise already announced for the beginning of the year," and she added that the CGT would join a general strike on November 17. Marylise Léon, leader of the CFDT, described the announced initiatives as "insufficient" after unions left the Matignon Palace disappointed.
Lecornu told journalists in Paris, "People should not undervalue this increase," and he argued it was the second-largest minimum wage rise in 20 years. The French government said it would bring forward the minimum wage increase from January to December after holding talks with trade unions and business leaders over the cost-of-living crisis.
Next protests and pressure
Unions called for further actions after the minimum wage announcement, with the CGT and other public-sector unions urging mobilization on November 17. The French government said it would ask sectors where minimum wages set through collective bargaining agreements remain below the statutory threshold to begin negotiations next week to bring them into line with the new level. Lecornu said, "I do not question the right to protest, but I do question violent acts," and he added that "Our cities’ centers need to regain calm."
“I do not question the right to protest, but I do question violent acts.”
The government faced pressure as protests continued, and France 24 said the unrest came five months before the presidential election. France 24 also said the government was eager to ease public anger but had "little room for manoeuvre because of its mounting debt burden," while the protests had spread beyond students to broader unrest.