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France

In: Minimum Wages, Collective Bargaining and Economic Development in Asia and Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Michel Husson
  • Estelle Sommeiller
  • Catherine Vincent

Abstract

The wage determination process in France is affected by two institutional forces. The first is the statutory minimum wage (SMW) set unilaterally by the government, and the second is a decentralized system of collective bargaining. The linkages between the two benefitted workers for three decades in a row but have changed significantly since the mid-1990s. In the aftermath of World War II, the minimum wage (MW) was a powerful tool to level social inequalities, while the social benefits collectively bargained in large companies spread to similar branches of activity and, to some extent, from one sector to another. Since the 1990s, however, this mechanism no longer functioned well due to the changing economic environment. On the one hand, the casualization of labour has undermined the benefits of lifting the MW. On the other hand, collective bargaining has been gradually reshaped through a decentralization process whereby plant-level settlements have become the standard. Accordingly, the key question for us concerns the extent to which this fundamental change in French industrial relations has affected both the wage distribution over time and the long-term dynamics of wage development.

Suggested Citation

  • Michel Husson & Estelle Sommeiller & Catherine Vincent, 2015. "France," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Maarten Klaveren & Denis Gregory & Thorsten Schulten (ed.), Minimum Wages, Collective Bargaining and Economic Development in Asia and Europe, chapter 11, pages 188-210, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-51242-0_11
    DOI: 10.1057/9781137512420_11
    as

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