French PM brings forward 1.6% increase in minimum wage in bid to calm protests

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said on Monday he was bringing forward a planned hike in the minimum wage to December from January, as he sought to defuse a cost-of-living crisis that has sparked some of France's worst civil unrest in years. The government has faced a series of demonstrations in recent weeks which started over underfunded schools but have morphed into broader protests, including riots in major cities on October 17 that caught security forces off guard. Read more'Deeply regressive': How the French government plans to make protesters pay for riots and looting France's national minimum wage would normally be raised on January 1 to reflect inflation, but instead the government will raise it by 1.6% in December, Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou told a press conference. The increase will bring the monthly minimum wage to a net €1,502 ($1,676), up €24 from the current level, where it has been since June, when it was raised by €35 to reflect higher inflation. 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. To display this content from Y...