25 professional branches still have salary minimums below the minimum wage

The announcement of an anticipated increase in the minimum wage of 2%, at the beginning of November, puts the spotlight back on the problem of minimum wages in professional sectors and the crushing of classification grids.

In the debate on the “de-micardization” of France, the professional branches also have their share of responsibility. Decryption with Sarah Lemoine.

franceinfo: How do professional branches work in relation to classification grids?

Sarah Lemoine : Each of them, let us remember, negotiates classification grids which apply to all companies in the same sector. These grids define the hierarchy of jobs, based on different criteria, technicality, required skills or level of responsibility.

In the hairdressing industry, for example, a hairdresser is a beginner, non-beginner, qualified, highly qualified, and so on, up to the position of manager or network presenter. Each level, each step is then correlated to a minimum salary that all companies in the sector must respect. Companies can pay more, if they wish, but never less.

Why are the gaps between minimum wages increasingly narrow?

In many sectors, the salary minimums, located at the very bottom of the scale, are aligned with the minimum wage, or barely above it. Each time the minimum wage increases, these minimums are systematically caught up, or even exceeded on several levels. This does not mean that the employees concerned are paid less than the minimum wage, the law prohibits this.

On the other hand, when they move up a level, they are still on the minimum wage. Currently, 25 of the 171 branches closely monitored by the General Directorate of Labor display at least one step below the minimum wage. As for those who have renegotiated, in most cases, they do not pass on the increase in the minimum wage to the entire scale.

As a result, the differences in minimum salaries between the different levels are reduced. This is called grid settlement. And this trend was further accentuated last year, according to the DGT.

In this context, how can we promote good career development?

This involves, in particular, the rethinking of classification grids, which often leads to an increase in salary minimums. The law now requires branches to carry out this examination every five years. And for good reason. At the end of last year, of the 171 branches scrutinized by the Ministry of Labor, 102 had not reviewed their classification for more than five years. 15 for more than 20 years, according to a report released this week.