Tahiti, May 23, 2023 – If the valuation of the Smig is legally indexed to inflation, having been revalued five times since 2021, there is no obligation forcing employers to increase workers receiving more than the guaranteed minimum wage. Thus, while the minimum wage has increased by 13.3% over the last three years, the average salary has only increased by 4.5%. This catching up of low wages by the Smig inexorably impoverishes the middle class, that of “forgotten” of inflation, while 30.5% of employees listed by the CPS have a gross monthly salary of less than 200,000 francs.
Among the obvious facts that undermine the morale of the nūna’a, the salary stands out as one of them, acting as a bastion of survival for many households and the main Source of their anxieties. Unfortunately, this is struggling to align with the 13.3% general inflation observed since 2021. Indeed, while only the Smig is legally indexed to price increases – it has also been increased five times in recent years. last three years to follow the course of inflation by going from 155,973 to 173,181 gross monthly francs – middle-class workers have not had this chance, the average salary having only increased by 4 .5%. Or barely 33.8% of current inflation.
An alarming observation then arises. As the years go by, middle-class workers see their purchasing power decline. This class, often called the “class of the forgotten”, is difficult to define, as it encompasses diverse social groups: craftsmen, employees, business owners, small business owners and traders. However, what they have in common is that they have a job, an income, housing, but also the fact of being the most neglected by the crisis. Especially since in Fenua, according to the Statistical Institute of French Polynesia (ISPF), 30.5% of employees listed by the CPS, or 22,509 people, receive less than 200,000 gross monthly francs. These workers, experienced or not, paid slightly more than the minimum wage, see the rising tide of the Smig gaining ground on what they receive each month. “Average remuneration increases much more slowly than prices and does not keep pace with inflation, which is all the more impactful for these salaries of less than 200,000 francs. This explains in particular this feeling about the rise in prices and the perception that we have. confirms Nadine Jourdan, the director of the ISPF, interviewed by Tahiti Info. If the term “impoverishment” middle class is too “strong” for the boss of Polynesian statistics, Nadine Jourdan, however, admits that a “loss of purchasing power” impacts the population and in particular this forgotten class. “It’s even certain.”
Watch out for the trapdoor
With the Smig increasing faster than the average wage, more and more workers find themselves sucked into a low-wage trap, which makes them impoverished. This situation results from the non-revaluation of salary scales established by collective agreements and operated by unions and employers’ organizations.. “There is an impoverishment of consumers, it’s true. It increases every year, because the salary increase index does not evolve quickly enough and salaries are blocked,” tells us Makalio Folituu, president of the Polynesian consumer association, Te Tia Ara. “People don’t know how to react to this situation. We can only study the files on the cost of living and correct certain rules. he adds, a little bitterly.
