Employer contribution relief worth €70 billion to be reviewed
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on BFMTV and Maroc Diplomatique
The government is considering changes to employer contribution reliefs on labour, which represent €70 billion a year, as businesses fear a new effort. Public accounts minister David Amiel puts the cost of the SMIC minimum wage and low public-sector salaries at more than €1 billion, according to franceinfo.
Public accounts minister David Amiel puts the cost of the rise in the SMIC, France’s minimum wage, combined with the raising of the lowest public-sector salaries, at a little over €1 billion. He said so on Sunday on franceinfo and warned that this additional cost will require further budgetary efforts during the parliamentary scrutiny of the 2027 budget.
The Senate is to take up the 2027 budget from 20 November, after MPs rejected the text. Employers' organisations fear having to fund both wage rises, including those of sector-wide minimums that have fallen below the SMIC, and a rollback of contribution reliefs. Yet the budget does not plan to raise these reliefs to offset the minimum wage increase.
These general contribution reliefs represent public employment aid of more than €70 billion a year. According to the government, a reform of these schemes must be launched in 2027. Asked by the JDD, Amir Reza-Tofighi, president of the employers' organisation Les Entrepreneurs, believes businesses can no longer absorb new costs.
This development extends the promise made by Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou to cap the rise in labour costs in early 2027 if wages rise, a promise reported the previous day.
