Businesses risk looking bleak next year. And rightly so, the general reduction of social contributions on salaries will reach around 3 billion euros in 2026, compared to half this year, announced this Tuesday, October 21, the Minister of Labor, Jean-Pierre Farandou, who wants, however, to protect “the competitiveness of companies.”
“Last year a first step of reduction was taken”, for an amount of 1.5 billion euros, stated the minister. “We are proposing not only to repeat this march, but to do an additional one of approximately the same amount,” he said. “We will make the exemptions at the minimum wage level maximum in a logic of maintaining the reductions with a curve even if that means discussing up to three minimum wages,” declared the Minister of Labor.
“Micardization” of society
The general rapporteur of the Social Affairs Commission, Thibault Bazin (republican right), questioned the configuration of the measure, as well as the sectors and companies affected.
Last year, economists Antoine Bozio and Étienne Wasmer presented, at the request of the Government, a report that proposed reviewing the reductions in contributions for low wages in France, responsible according to these experts for a trend towards the “smicardization” of society.
In fact, the cost of increasing an employee’s minimum wage by 100 euros amounts to 442 euros for the employer, according to a study by Drees published a year ago. These reductions in contributions also represent a loss of income for Social Security.
Source: BFM TV
