Minimum Wage and the Labor Market: What Can We Learn from the French Experience?

Summary Since it was introduced in 1950, and even more since it was reformed in 1970, the statutory minimum wage has been playing a key role in the French labor market. It has very specific fixing mechanisms, and from the eighties, it has been one of the highest among the OECD countries - both in relative and absolute terms. After presenting the specific features of the minimum wage setting regime in France as well as the minimum wage policies implemented since the 1950s, we provide a comprehensive survey of existing empirical evidence on the impacts of the minimum wage on the French labor market. We use a meta-analysis to draw the lessons from the empirical studies on its effects on employment. We also survey the other potential effects, such as the impact on wage bargaining and other wages, on inequalities, on profit and prices, on working conditions.