Employment bonus: Frédéric Souillot denounces "a low-wage trap"

"The activity bonus for the most vulnerable is actually a low-wage trap," said Mr. Souillot, a guest on Boursorama's Ecorama program. "Because when you receive the activity bonus, when (...) you negotiate one-on-one with your employer, they tell you 'I'm not going to give you a raise because otherwise you'll lose the activity bonus,'" he continued.

"It is through wages that we must be able to live from our work," the union representative insisted. "Today, you are asking all French people who work with their contributions to pay for the activity bonus," instead of asking businesses to contribute.

"We are not talking about salaries in this budget, especially for the civil service," lamented Mr. Souillot, referring to the freeze on the index point.

On Friday evening, the Prime Minister announced – among other measures to try to avoid a censure of his government – ​​an average increase of €50 in the employment bonus for more than three million households. "Work must pay more," declared Sébastien Lecornu when presenting this measure, which is expected to cost two billion euros annually.

Paid from the age of 18 for young working people, the activity bonus is intended to support the purchasing power of low-income households.

The unions greeted this announcement with skepticism.

"Those who will be able to benefit a little from this increase will become poor retirees since it does not count towards retirement, or very poor unemployed since it does not count towards unemployment, or very poor sick or disabled since it does not count in the event of a work accident," Thomas Vacheron for the CGT told AFP.

"There is one element within the government's control, by simple decree, which is the revaluation of the minimum wage, rather than the State taking charge of wages in place of companies," he said.

With the activity bonus, "we have created compensation because some salaries do not allow people to live properly," explained CFTC president Cyril Chabanier to AFP, while saying "we cannot be against a purchasing power measure at a time when employees need it."