Just a few days after announcing a 3.8% rise in the social minimum wage from January 2027, the government is faced with a rougher reality: compliance with the minimum wage itself remains imperfect. Behind the political display of a gain of €170 a month (also including the 2.5% indexation due to take place before the summer), the question of the practical application of labour law is resurfacing.

The figures provided by the minister for labour, Marc Spautz (CSV), in a parliamentary response published on Monday 30 March show an active, but not infallible, control system. Between 2020 and 2025, the Labour and Mines Inspectorate (ITM) carried out more than 1,000 inspections a year, peaking at 1,431 in 2023. Despite this vigilance, infringements will continue to be detected, although their number will fall sharply, from 85 in 2021 to 26 in 2025.

The phenomenon is not diffuse, it is targeted. The hotel and catering sector accounts for a significant proportion of breaches, followed by construction, trade and transport. These are all sectors where economic pressure is strong and there is little room for manoeuvre. This concentration is all the more questionable at a time when the government is trying precisely to avoid too brutal a shock to businesses with its reform of the minimum wage.

No amount for penalties

Because the announced increase is not based solely on a gesture in favour of employees. It is accompanied by a compensation mechanism designed to lighten the bill for employers. This is an implicit recognition of the tensions in certain sectors of the economy, which are already evident in the infringements observed in the field.

The approach to infringements remains pragmatic. The ITM’s first priority is to ensure compliance. Employers are invited to regularise their situation, in particular by paying the arrears due. Penalties exist – up to €25,000 in fines, or even more in the event of a repeat offence – but they come into play mainly when corrections are not made.

The parliamentary question tabled by Mars Di Bartolomeo (LSAP) was aimed precisely at measuring the scale of the phenomenon and the effectiveness of controls. The response provides figures, but also highlights the limits of the system: compliance with the minimum wage still depends largely on the ability to detect and correct discrepancies. In addition, the Ministry points out that it is impossible to isolate the penalties linked solely to non-compliance with the minimum wage, because the same fine often covers several offences and several employees. In other words, we know what the minimum wage offences are, but not how many have actually been punished individually.