1950

Creation of a minimum wage in France

The Salaire Minimum Interprofessionnel Garanti (SMIG) was the first minimum wage in France. It was indexed to inflation but not to economic growth. It did not apply in the agricultural sector - for which there is a Salaire Minimum Agricole Garanti (SMAG) - and was set at different levels depending on the regions. In 1968, the SMAG was aligned with the SMIG. In 1970, the SMIG was replaced by the Salaire Minimum Interprofessionnel de Croissance (SMIC). It was uniform across all French regions. It was revalued using a new computation method in which the increase in average wages was taken into account. The objective was to help the minimum wage catch up with the average wage, which was then much higher.