The minimum wage amounted to 67% of average earnings in 2024, according to Eurostat data. Some 12.7% of employees were paid at or near the minimum wage, compared with 8% in Germany and 3.5% in the Netherlands. The increase will take the monthly net minimum wage to €1,502 ($1,676), up €24 from the current level. Pay has stood there since June, when it was raised by €35 to reflect higher inflation.
In France the minimum wage is usually increased automatically in line with inflation in January and sometimes mid-year. Changes therefore have a particularly broad impact on labour costs and are politically sensitive.
Protests erupted in high schools in September over underfunded schools. They have since widened into anger over living costs, public services and political stagnation.
The government is concerned about mounting social tensions five months before a presidential election in which far-right leader Marine Le Pen is the frontrunner in the polls.
France combines one of Europe's highest minimum wages with one of the largest shares of workers paid at or near that level.
The move follows a cost-of-living crisis that has fuelled weeks of unrest across France.
Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou told a press conference that the wage is normally raised on 1 January to reflect inflation. The government will instead apply the 1.6% rise in December. Demonstrations in recent weeks included riots in major cities on 17 October that caught security forces off guard.