The Minister of Labor, Jean-Pierre Farandou, justified on Tuesday the reduction in the net salary of apprentices included in the 2026 budget project by the fact that these young people “have the same rights” as other employees, but currently do not contribute “in proportion to their remuneration.”
Supported for several years by the different governments, the apprenticeship, which allowed us to achieve the goal of training more than one million young people, is now getting underway. The Government proposed in its draft budget for 2026 to end the contribution exemptions enjoyed by apprentices, which would automatically reduce their take-home pay.
Before 2025, apprentices benefited from significant exemptions from social contributions or the general social contribution (CSG), which meant that their net salary was very close to their gross salary. In 2025, this advantage will have already been reduced and the part of your salary that exceeds 50% of the gross minimum wage (about 900 euros) will become subject to employee contributions and the CSG. The draft budget proposes to go further and completely eliminate this exemption, which should weigh even more on the take-home pay of apprentices if this provision is approved.
An “important” cost of 1,600 million euros
“Their brutal setbacks have a cost,” lamented on Tuesday the communist deputy for Seine-Maritime, Edouard Bénard, citing as an example in the National Assembly the cases of “Léa, 17 years old, pastry chef’s apprentice, minus 146 euros per month. Joachim, 21 years old, boilermaker, minus 188 euros per month. Salim, 18-year-old baker, minus 161 euros.” “And who can live, and I’m talking about adults and only adults, on 613 euros a month, honestly?” he asked again in the National Assembly.
“Apprentices have the same contributory rights as employees, without contributing in proportion to their remuneration. Therefore, in my opinion, it is legitimate that we can at least debate the fact that they contribute up to the social rights from which they benefit,” he continued, pointing out that “part-time employees, when they are students, do not have this exemption.”
Source: BFM TV
