St. Maarten Private Eye

Hi Cathy,

I know that some people find it difficult to live on Le SMIC * (plus tip if you work in the resto business) but you can rest assured that it is exactly the same pay working in the hotel & tourist industry whether you are from the island or you come from mainland France.

In fact people in France doing the same jobs do not get paid a centime more than minimum wage for waitressing, cleaning hotel rooms, working in a hotel reception, hostess etc etc). This has absolutely nothing to do with the islands or slavery.

In many cases, in France, you are lucky to even get minimum wage since there are enough people willing to do many of the more popular jobs as more or less symbolically paid "stagières"!

The minimum wage on the Dutch side is approx 600 USD a month. Le SMIC (the French minimum salary is currently 1254 euros per month). I am not certain, but I think that if you "only" make minimum wage you don't pay any income taxes, so the amount should be net.

With the weak dollar rate this is currently 1780 USD. Not bad for a minimum (net?) wage if you ask me...

Moreover, if you are, for example, a single mother making SMIC you are eligible for rent controlled housing, housing allowances, extra support for your children. All in all, it is not a bad life, for someone living on "minimum wage".

Comparison of minimum wages in EU countries

PS. Have a look at Bulgaria. Minumum wage is 92 euros which is an equivalent of only 216 euros in purchasing power! Yikes! Talk about slavery...