Europe 1 with AFP 11:16 a.m., May 23, 2022

For François Asselin, the president of the Confederation of small and medium-sized enterprises, inflation will not make it possible to increase everyone's wages in the same way.

If, according to him, "everything should not rest on the State", solutions are possible to help companies.

The employers' organizations are also invited this afternoon to Bercy.

The president of the (CPME) François Asselin on Monday ruled out a "uniform" increase in wages in French companies, two days after the government's call for "everyone" to participate in the fight against inflation.

"There will be no uniform salary increase (...) you will have as many situations as different companies," he said on BFM Business.

Inflation measured at 4.8% over one year

"We are suffering from this inflation", measured at 4.8% over one year in April, "and companies like their employees have the same pressure", declared François Asselin, invited at 3 p.m. to the Ministry of the Economy with other representatives of employers' organizations to "take stock" of the fight against inflation.

“We are seeing our raw material supply prices soar, energy first. And when we cannot pass on (these rises in production prices) to selling prices, it is complicated”, explained the boss of the CPME.

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But faced with recruitment tensions, "many companies have made individual increases" in salaries, he assured, in order to "keep their workforce and their skills".

"There are possibilities despite everything to increase purchasing power", also underlined François Asselin, in favor of a lowering of employers' charges on overtime.

Pay the Macron bonus in several instalments?

The representative of SMEs also pleads for companies to be able to pay the so-called "Macron" bonus in several instalments, rather than all at once.

“It would allow companies which do not have the cash at the moment T” necessary for the payment of this tax-exempt premium to use this device despite everything, he said.

François Asselin was speaking two days after a call from Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire – renewed in his post in the new government – ​​to “fairly” distribute the burden of efforts against inflation.

"Not everything should rest with the state," he said.

The employers' organizations received at Bercy

The main interprofessional and sectoral employers' organizations are also invited Monday afternoon to Bercy, around Bruno Le Maire, to "take stock of the economic situation and in particular the fight against inflation, as well as to work on the priorities of the five-year term in economic and financial matters".