French minister of agriculture Bruno Le Maire announced yesterday that the hourly wage for seasonal workers would drop from the current €12 to “a little over €9” per hour in order to improve the competitiveness of the fruit and vegetables sector, Agence France Presse has reported.
Mr Le Maire has on many occasions stated his belief that French fruit and vegetable producers suffer from a higher cost of labour compared with their European competitors, citing the examples of Germany, where the hourly wage is €6, and Spain (€7 per hour).
As part of the plan to support agriculture in France, president Nicolas Sarkozy has also outlined a plan to exonerate employers from paying social security contributions for seasonal workers, at a cost of €170m to the State.
