“We have to make financial choices”: at the Paris job fair, the rise in the cost of living and the level of salary at the center of concerns

While the government is considering a possible increase in the minimum wage, the Minister of Labor, Jean-Pierre Farandou, is meeting with the unions this weekend, before a social conference organized Monday, November 9 by the Prime Minister. The CFDT is demanding an increase of 100 euros net per month, the CGT of 150 euros. Another demand from the unions is that no salary scale starts below the minimum wage.

In the aisles of the Paris job fair, Friday November 6, the question of salaries is omnipresent. In a context of inflation and rising energy and gasoline prices, candidates sometimes have to make financial choices. Among them, Yasmina sits down at the table of a collective catering company. She has been looking for work for four months. “I obviously have financial needs because I have been self-employed, so I do not receive ARE,” she explains, in reference to the return to work assistance allowance, after the resale of her structure.

“I pay attention to my spending obviously. I make choices and my choices are more oriented towards this job search than, even if I really want to, towards a possible trip or a possible show. With what is happening today, we have to make financial choices,” she says.

“I’m lowering my expectations a little.”

“What’s happening today” is notably the increase in gasoline prices and energy bills. So many expenses that push Eric, 59, to negotiate his salary. Father of three children, all young adults, he hopes to regain his previous salary. “Being able to buy a car for your children, going on vacation… Yes, I will try to recover the salary I had. I have a fighting and resilient spirit. I have good hope of having what I want and in the best possible conditions,” he confides.

But for some candidates, it is more difficult to negotiate. This is particularly the case for young graduates, who seek above all to obtain their first professional experience. “I'm looking for a first experience, so I'm lowering my expectations a little because I really want to get my first foot in the world of work in France,” says one of them. Another explains: “Even if it’s less paid, with a large variable portion, but my working hours are normal and I have teleworking, I will still take it.”

In the aisles of the show, many job seekers are making the same observation: salaries appear less and less on the offers published by companies.