France, Jan. 1 -- Minimum wage and pensions

The gross monthly minimum wage for full-time work will rise by 1.18 percent on 1 January - up from €1,801.80 to €1,823.03. A full-time employee on the minimum wage will earn just under €17 net more per month. The increase is mechanical and partly linked to inflation.

The salary of around 356,000 civil servants - out of France's 5.8 million public-sector employees - will be slightly adjusted to prevent them from falling below the minimum wage, according to the Ministry for Public Accounts. Their minimum pay, previously set at €1,801.74 gross, will rise by €21.23 through a "differential allowance", paid as a bonus rather than through an increase in basic salary.

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