Working in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon: Labour Law, Pay, Contributions and Taxes

Saint-Pierre and Miquelon is part of the Republic: a French citizen takes up a job without a visa, residence permit or work authorisation. The prefecture’s “foreign workers” pages and the work authorisation procedure concern foreign nationals, who apply to the citizenship and legality department. The IEDOM (the overseas issuing institute) reminds readers that the labour code governs the SMIC, and the prefecture’s pages on the employment contract deal with termination by mutual agreement, the project contract, derogations from working time and Sunday work or, since April 2026, paid leave during sick leave.

Labour and employment fall to the State services, notably the social cohesion, labour, employment and population department (DCSTEP); the local France Travail office (the French employment agency) manages unemployment insurance under the mainland scheme since 2011 (CLEISS, the French centre for international social security links). The guide to living in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon details the settling-in formalities that go with taking up a post.

The archipelago’s SMIC is revalued like the mainland one. It is around €12 gross an hour, i.e. about €1,850 gross a month for 35 hours. The hourly SMIC also serves as a benchmark for the CPS to open entitlement to daily allowances (contributions on a salary of at least 1,015 times the hourly SMIC over six months, or 150 hours worked over three months).

The tax services put average declared incomes at more than €30,000 for employees, more than €50,000 for civil service staff or similar, more than €24,000 for the self-employed and more than €22,000 for retirees. The minimum gross monthly salary in category C of the civil service is around €2,700, and the gross monthly salary of a skilled construction worker (OQ3) around €2,800. Services concentrate 87% of employment, employees 98%, and nine in ten employees work full time.

The labour market is seasonal: winter puts fishing and construction to sleep, hence a peak of jobseekers in the first quarter, which tends to ease with year-round posts in construction. Public administration accounts for nearly a third of job vacancies, construction 12% and administrative and support services 10%. The activity rate is 81.7% and the employment rate 77.8%, above the averages for France excluding Mayotte (73.6% and 68.2%).

The reference working time is 35 hours a week: the monthly SMIC of €1,867.02 corresponds to this basis. Permanent and fixed-term contracts follow the labour code, and the prefecture publishes sheets on the points that give rise to frequent questions: termination by mutual agreement, bad weather in construction, work by young people under 16, termination of a protected employee’s contract. An employee arriving from mainland France signs a local contract, or remains tied to their original employer if posted.

Secondment makes it possible to stay with the French scheme: the decree of 10 May 2011 provides that employees posted by their employer to the other territory remain subject to the scheme of their usual territory if the length of the secondment does not exceed two years including leave and if they do not replace another posted worker who has reached the end of their period. The glossary explains the notion of a posted worker, and the guide to secondee or expatriate compares the two statuses.

The CPS collects all contributions for the employees’ and non-salaried schemes. The private-sector rates are as follows, with a monthly social security ceiling revised each year:

• Health insurance: 9.00% below the ceiling, of which 6.25% borne by the employer and 2.75% by the employee.
• Old-age insurance: 15.65%, of which 8.65% borne by the employer and 7% by the employee.
• Family allowances: 8.00% borne by the employer; industrial accidents: 1.50%.
• Unemployment insurance: 4.00% borne by the employer on four ceilings; AGS (wage guarantee insurance): 0.25%; FNAL (national housing aid fund): 0.10% (fewer than 50 employees) or 0.50%; vocational training: 0.55%; social dialogue contribution: 0.016%.

Supplementary Agirc-Arrco pension is compulsory for private-sector employees. According to the CLEISS sheet, the contractual rates are 7.87% on band 1 (4.72% employer, 3.15% employee) and 21.59% on band 2 (12.95% and 8.64%), with balancing contributions on top. The rates are updated at the start of each year on the CPS website.

Self-employed people contribute to the CPS: sickness-maternity 9.00%, old age 15.65%, family allowances 8.00%, industrial accidents 1.50%, plus a vocational training contribution of 0.15% to 0.55% depending on the activity. They do not contribute to unemployment insurance. Their compulsory supplementary pension is managed by the URSSAF Île-de-France, at 7% of income up to a first threshold and 8% between that threshold and a ceiling, revised each year. Each year, professional income is declared to the CPS.

The Territorial Council has its own competences in local taxation, implemented by the tax department under the local tax code. Income tax is an annual tax assessed per household: the scale is progressive over 12 brackets (5 in mainland France), overtime is exempt, contributions paid to a mutual insurer are deductible, and the CSG and CRDS (French social levies) do not apply. The archipelago has no indirect taxes such as VAT. Income tax brings in more than €16 million from about 4,000 households, 30% of which are not taxable.

For income from a mainland or foreign source, the effective rate takes account of income exempt locally. Rents from property located in mainland France remain taxable in mainland France (Article 6 of the convention of 30 May 1988 between the State and the Territorial Collectivity), but are entered in the local return for the effective rate. The calendars to note: paper return by 31 March, online return until 30 April; monthly payment must be requested before 1 November.

The same convention provides that salaries are taxable in the territory of residence, unless the job is carried out in the other territory (Article 14), and that public remuneration, excluding pensions, is taxable only in the beneficiary’s territory of residence. Corporate tax is another component: it is 15% for small businesses (turnover below €600,000, up to €38,120 of profit) and 23% at the standard rate; the patente (business licence tax) applies to non-salaried activities. The exact brackets of the scale appear in the tax department’s calculator.

A self-employed person settled in the archipelago affiliates to the CPS and declares their income to the tax department; their business registers with the local bodies (patente, chamber of commerce). Remote work for a mainland employer follows the rule of the place of work: the coordination decree places workers who work in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon under the local scheme, unless there is a secondment within the limits described above; the employer and the CPS confirm the situation in writing before departure.

A State civil servant assigned to Saint-Pierre and Miquelon is affiliated, with their dependants, to the archipelago’s health and maternity insurance scheme for benefits in kind from the moment they take up their duties (Article 4 of the decree of 10 May 2011). The CPS asks for a copy of the transfer order and sets a specific health contribution for civil servants (7.25% of the base, of which 4.80% for the employer and 2.45% for the employee). Public staff weigh heavily in the economy: more than 27% of income recipients and 39% of the declared wage bill. The details of reimbursements are in the page on healthcare reimbursement.

The currency is the euro. GDP at current prices was estimated at €240 million, with value added coming 88% from the services sector (45% from public administration), 11% from the secondary sector and 1% from the primary sector; a GDP per inhabitant of €39,778 at current prices and €24,463 in purchasing power parity was assessed by a study cited by the IEDOM. Trade accounts for 18.4% of the business fabric, with 111 businesses.

The economic climate is generally favourable to households: low inflation and resilient employment. Fishing catches are volatile (end of sea cucumber fishing, scarcity of snow crab), while tourism is growing (nearly 12,000 visitors) and construction benefits from private housing and public works. Imports of goods reach about €100 million against exports of about €1.7 million.

Among the outlook items, the IEDOM cites the renovation of the port, the new village of Miquelon, a retirement home project and a new veterinary clinic, as well as the potential for renewable energy. It also notes concerns: a shrinking and ageing population, labour shortages in several sectors and outstanding business investment loans down. Job vacancies can be consulted with France Travail and the prefecture (“job vacancies” publication).