Part of the election manifesto of the Nouveau Front Populaire – an alliance of France’s four biggest left-wing parties – is an increase in the take home minimum wage to €1,600 per month.

Now it’s still far from certain that the group will get itself into a position to implement this or any of its other policies as France’s political deadlock continues but let’s take a look at how the proposals stack up.

The current minimum wage in France (known as the Smic) for an employee working full-time hours, is €1,766.92 a month (€11.65 per hour) before taxes and social charges – or €1,398.70 (€9.22/hr) take home.

Explained: The left alliance’s programme for government

In total, 22 of 27 member nations of the European Union have a statutory minimum wage, as does former member the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. 

Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Italy and Finland do not have a national minimum wage. Instead, wage levels are set on a sector-by-sector basis via collective bargaining between employers and trades unions, and may include additional benefits depending on the laws of each country.

Similarly, European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries Norway, Switzerland and Iceland do not have a national minimum wage.

What about the countries that do have a minimum wage?

Germany’s minimum wage increased on January 1st from €12 to €12.41 per hour. It is expected to rise again, to €12.82/hr on January 1st, 2025, assuming the government acts on recommendations (which it usually does).

That translates to a full-time minimum monthly wage before tax of €2,085. Germany is one of four EU countries – along with Luxembourg (€2,571), Ireland (€2,146) and Netherlands (€2,070) – where the minimum gross monthly wage is above €2,000, according to OECD figures.

Minimum wages in Spain, meanwhile, were revised upwards five percent on January 1st to €1,134 per month for general workers working full-time hours. 

In other European Union countries, the minimum monthly wage ranges from a high of €2,571 per month in Luxembourg, down to €477 in Bulgaria. EU candidate country North Macedonia’s minimum wage, meanwhile, is €360.

In fact, the minimum wage is €1,000 or lower in 14 EU member states that have a nationally mandated minimum wage. 

Here’s a list of the eight EU member states with monthly minimum wage levels before tax above €1,000:

• Luxembourg – €2,571
• Ireland  – €2,146
• Germany – €2,085
• Netherlands – €2,070
• Belgium – €1,994
• France – €1,767
• Spain – €1,323
• Slovenia – €1,254

Non-EU nations

For workers over 21, the minimum wage in the UK rose from £10.41 per hour to £11.44 on April 1st – equivalent to £1,735 per month before tax for anyone working full-time hours.

In USA, the federal minimum wage is $7.25/hr. However numerous states have their own minimum wage laws, which usually set a higher rate – in cases where employees are subject to both the state and federal minimum wage laws, they are entitled to the higher of the two minimum wages.

Meanwhile, in Australia, the National Minimum Wage was set at AUS$24.10 per hour on July 1st, or AU$915.90 per 38-hour week (before tax).

The minimum federal monthly wage in Canada was set at CAD$2,035 per month on April 1st, 2024, but workers there are subject to minimum wage levels set by their respective province or territory.

All of which is to say that while the Nouveau Front Populaire’s proposed minimum wage increase is generous, it is not insanely so and would not make France a European outlier on minimum wages.

But…

Comparing minimum wage levels between nations is not just a matter of quoting figures. Differences in the cost of living and taxation, not to mention different currencies and exchange rates for those nations outside the eurozone, render the exercise more complicated than a simple number comparison.

Which brings us to…

EU Minimum Wage Directive

In November 2024, the European Union’s Adequate Minimum Wage Directive comes into effect.

It says: “Member states may use indicative reference values commonly used at international level such as 60 percent of the gross median wage and 50 percent of the gross average wage, and/or indicative reference values used at national level.”

France’s current minimum wage of €1,766.92 per month for full-time workers is, according to recent estimates, 60.9 percent of the country’s monthly median wage before tax, meaning that – even before the EU directive comes into effect – it is meeting its expected obligations without having to increase minimum wage levels.

Portugal (€957 per month minimum wage) and Slovenia are the only other EU nations to pass the 60 percent median bar for their minimum wage levels, along with long-standing EU candidate country Turkey.

Germany’s minimum wage, despite appearing to be relatively high in straight euro terms, is only 52.6 percent of the median level, according to OECD calculations, while Luxembourg’s was 54.2 percent, and Ireland’s 47.5 percent.

Here’s another look at that list of the eight EU member states with monthly minimum wages above €1,000, with the ratio to that country’s median wage:

• Slovenia – €1,254 (61.7 percent of the median wage)
• France – €1,767 (60.9 percent)
• Luxembourg – €2,571 (54.2 percent)
• Germany – €2,085 (52.6 percent)
• Spain – €1,323 (49.5 percent)
• Ireland  – €2,146 (47.5 percent)
• Netherlands – €2,070 (46.1 percent)
• Belgium – €1,994 (40.9 percent)

The UK’s minimum wage, for the record, comes in at 58 percent.

This comparison of minimum wages is still open to interpretation and criticism. The International Labour Organisation said: “These ratios can be misleading when they are interpreted too literally.”

Meanwhile, the OECD has said that minimum wages must be revised regularly to cope with inflation and protect standards of living among those lower-paid workers. 

Salary conditions

According to European statistics agency Eurostat, the highest median gross hourly earnings in 2018 – the last available year for earnings – were recorded in Denmark (€27.2), Luxembourg (€19.6) and Sweden (€18.2).

By contrast, the lowest median gross hourly earnings were registered in Hungary (€4.4), Romania (€3.7) and Bulgaria (€2.4). 

In other words, across EU Member States, the highest national median gross hourly earnings were 11 times as high as the lowest expressed in euros.

In total, across the EU, some 15.3 percent of employees in 2018 were classed as low-wage earners – that is to say employees who earn two-thirds or less of national median gross hourly earnings, according to Eurostat. Again, there were huge nation-by-nation ranges involved. Latvia (23.5 percent), Lithuania (22.3 percent) and Estonia (22.0 percent) saw the highest proportion of low-wage earners. 

By contrast, less than 10 percent of employees were low wage earners in Denmark (8.7 percent), France (8.6 percent), Italy (8.5 percent), Finland (5.0 percent), Portugal (4.0 percent) and Sweden (3.6 percent), according to Eurostat figures.