Working in Saint-Barthélemy: Labour Law, Minimum Wage, Contributions, Taxation and the Island's Economy

The collectivity of Saint-Barthélemy sets its own rules in a few matters, including foreigners’ access to work (Légifrance, legislative drafting guide). Labour law is not on this list: the national labour code applies as of right, like the other laws and regulations not reserved to the collectivity. A French citizen arriving from mainland France therefore has no work permit or visa to request, and their employee rights (working time, leave, termination of the contract, sick leave) are those of French law.

For the employer, the CPS reminds readers that any hiring on a permanent or fixed-term contract gives rise to a pre-hiring declaration, made before the employee starts work, whatever their nationality. This declaration includes the employee’s affiliation to the CPS. Undeclared work exposes the employer to criminal, civil or administrative penalties. For foreign employees, the employer checks the validity of the permit with the prefecture or the DREETS (the regional labour directorate) and sends the supporting documents to the CPS with the declaration.

The national SMIC applies in Saint-Barthélemy, as the IEDOM (the overseas issuing institute) indicates in its presentation of the island’s income and wages. The public service gives a SMIC of around €12 gross an hour, i.e. about €1,850 gross a month for 35 hours and about €1,450 net. This amount is regularly revalued by order.

Actual pay is above the minimum in many occupations, with no official scale by profession published for the island. The benchmarks available describe rather the structure of employment. The private-sector wage bill reaches about €230 million. Accommodation, food service, trade, construction and other market services account for nearly 90% of it. The active solidarity income (RSA) and the activity bonus, paid by the CPS, top up modest incomes.

The cost of housing weighs heavily on purchasing power: according to the IEDOM, renting a room can exceed €2,000 a month. It is therefore useful to negotiate housing or a housing allowance with the employer before signing the contract. The guide to living in Saint-Barthélemy details rents, land and settling-in formalities.

• Labour force: more than 7,000 people, with an activity rate of about 88% and an unemployment rate below 2% (Insee census, as cited by the IEDOM). Employment growth relies on outside labour, notably in accommodation and food service and in construction.
• Private-sector employment: nearly 6,900 employees; services account for three quarters of private-sector jobs.
• Breakdown: accommodation and food service 33.6% (more than 2,300 employees), other market services 21.7%, construction 19.4%, trade 15.4%, industry 3.4%, transport and storage 2.9%, energy 1.9% (MSA Poitou).
• Job demand: about 400 category A jobseekers, a level close to recent years, far from the peak of 579 people in 2017 after Hurricane Irma.
• Recruitment: the Labour needs survey counts nearly 1,900 projects in the Northern islands, nearly half of them in personal services; 41% of projects meet difficulties, and 60% in trade.

Clerical and service employees account for nearly a third of total employment (27.6%), ahead of manual workers (23.5%), craftspeople, traders and business heads (20.2%) and intermediate occupations (19.2%); managers and higher intellectual professions weigh 7.9% (Insee census). Salaried employment accounts for about 71% of total employment.

Since 1 July 2017, the CPS has collected employers’ social security contributions in place of the Guadeloupe general social security fund. Rates and contributions are set by the State: the collectivity’s tax powers are exercised without prejudice to the State’s rules on social contributions (Article LO 6214-4 of the general code of local authorities). The “ordinary-law rates” table published by the CPS gives the following benchmarks.

• Sickness, maternity, invalidity, death: 13.00% borne by the employer on total remuneration. An employee contribution of 5.50% is provided for employees whose tax residence is outside France.
• Old age: 8.55% employer and 6.90% employee up to the ceiling; 2.11% employer (against 2.02% previously) and 0.40% employee on total remuneration.
• Family allowances: 5.25% borne by the employer.
• Industrial accidents: variable rate, set according to the size and activity of the business.
• Unemployment insurance: 4.00% borne by the employer, with a possible increase or reduction (bonus-malus).
• CSG and CRDS: 9.20% and 0.50% borne by the employee, on 98.25% of remuneration up to four ceilings. The table specifies that these two contributions are only due from people whose tax residence is in France.
• Vocational training: 0.55% for businesses with fewer than eleven employees, 1% from eleven.

Supplementary pensions for the island’s employees come under the CGRR (the supplementary pension fund for the overseas departments). The CPS recommends that anyone who was an employee in Saint-Barthélemy after 1 July 2017 send their payslips to the CGRR, because employers’ social declarations do not pass these contributions on to it. The point on pension rights is in the guide to retiring in Saint-Barthélemy.

Saint-Barthélemy has had tax autonomy since 2007 and its own contributions code, which replaces the national tax code (IEDOM). The essential rule is in Article LO 6214-4 of the general code of local authorities: an individual has their tax domicile in Saint-Barthélemy only after living there for at least five years; failing that, they are deemed domiciled in mainland France.

• Less than five years of residence: the household remains a tax resident of the State and files a national income return with the public finance directorate (DGFiP). About 1,400 returns are recorded each year and a little over half give rise to taxation.
• Five years or more, or settled before 15 July 2007: the household is a tax resident of the island. Income from a local source is not subject to income tax, and the IEDOM notes the absence of income tax for tax residents. The State treats them as foreign tax residents: their income from a mainland or overseas source comes under the non-resident individuals’ tax office.
• Businesses: businesses headquartered on the island pay an annual flat-rate contribution (€350 plus €100 per employee), to which are added in particular the 5% quay duty on goods brought onto the island and the tax on property profits.

A convention between the State and the collectivity sets the terms for exercising tax powers, notably information exchanges intended to prevent double taxation and fraud. Before fixing your arrival date, it is advisable to ask the competent tax office how the five years apply to your situation (date of settlement, place of main activity).

The self-employed worker comes under the CPS. Each year, they must fill in a self-employed social declaration on the CPS website, even if their income is low, nil or loss-making; without a declaration, contributions are calculated on increased flat-rate bases. The micro-entrepreneur declares their turnover, including when it is nil, via the CPS’s dedicated online service; at least 90 days must pass between the start of activity and the first declaration.

The CPS also reminds readers that a micro-entrepreneur working for a single client can be reclassified as an employee if there is a relationship of subordination. Company managers and professionals are covered by the same annual declaration. Registration procedures go through a business formalities centre, to which the CPS devotes a section of its website.

Remote work from the island for a mainland employer raises questions of social and tax attachment (place of activity, tax domicile): they should be put to the CPS and the tax office before departure, the sources consulted not detailing a rule specific to this situation.

Tourism is the island’s leading economic activity: visitor numbers reach records, with American customers accounting for about two thirds of visitors (territorial tourism committee, cited by the IEDOM). The tourist tax brings in more than €15 million. Hotels and restaurants are the island’s leading employer. Construction is slowing after the peak of reconstruction that followed Hurricane Irma, with a fall in cement sales, while employment in the sector is picking up.

On financing, bank lending exceeds €1 billion and financial assets reach about €1.5 billion. The currency is the euro. The status of overseas country and territory, in effect since 1 January 2012, takes external trade out of European Union rules; the collectivity keeps a historic quay duty, which represents more than a fifth of its tax revenue.

The outlook cited by the IEDOM includes port works, a cultural centre in Gustavia (more than €30 million), a fire station, a school complex in Saint-Jean, optical fibre and a new seawater desalination unit. The challenges remain housing for working people, sanitation and modernisation of the transport and electricity networks. One wealth indicator predates Irma: the IEDOM then estimated GDP per inhabitant at nearly €39,000, the highest in the Caribbean; this estimate is old and should be handled with care.