So SMIC

There is a debate which irritates me as I'm a freelance-who-wants-a-real-job: labor costs!


Pascal Lamy (ex-IMF Director) Pierre Gattaz (Président of big firms syndicate) and some economists (well-payed, aren't they?) asked to low the minimal salary. The worst is that no one explained why a high SMIC* should be a hindrance to competitiveness neither why a lowest one would help productivity.
No more did they tell about capital costs when CAC40** companies have payed 47% of their benefits in dividends this year... some have even been able to pay their shareholders more than they made benefits! Let's try to explain me that dividends are rewards on risk-tasking by the redistribution of the capital gains!

So i heard that the french minimal salary is one of the highest in the world. In reality, let's read all the text, it is one of the highest... in comparaison with the median salary (the exact center between the highest and the lowest salary... so the minimal salary is not the lowest salary in the country... I can't explain that).
Even in Europe [Eurostat]:
- Luxembourg (€1,921 per month) Belgium (€1,502/m) Netherlands (€1,469/m) and Ireland (€1,462/m) require a minimal salary higher than the french one (€1,445/m);
- one the hardest difficulties in the crisis has been for Greece where the minimal salary is under €600 after a decline of €200 to obtain lower unemployment... which is finally up to 27% of the working population!
- Portugal (€485/m) and Spain (€753/m) have also seen their unemployment rate going up (til 15,7% and 27%).

So the competitiveness is not low because of a high minimal salary, neither it will be high because of a low (or a lower) minimal salary. So why did these financial liberalism supporters constantly ask for a low minimal salary? Don't they have nothing else to do in the day like, maybe, working to support their companies without permanent state subsidies?


*: SMIC = Interprofessional Minimum Salary on the Growth, you see what it's about: to ensure a minimal income to every employee for living (so consume so support growth) in every job.
Before SMIC there was a minimal salary which was indexed on inflation. SMIC is indexed on the basic factory workers salary. But workers are still enough syndicated to defend themselves so their basic salary remains at an acceptable rate.
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