+6.9%. This is, on average, the increase in the monthly base salary in France (gross salaries excluding bonuses and overtime) between the end of 2021 and mid-2023, according to Dares, the statistical service of the Ministry of Labor. A level that remains insufficient to compensate for the increase in prices estimated at more than 9% during the period.
Most employees have noticed: their purchasing power has eroded in recent months. However, minimum wage employees were better off, with a cumulative increase in their pay of almost 10% over 18 months, and the minimum wage was automatically indexed to inflation in France.
By contrast, some low-income workers did not get such generous raises, to the point that their compensation was gradually caught up with the minimum wage. A worrying trend that will undoubtedly be on the agenda of discussions during the social conference that opens on October 16.
To compare your compensation to other private sector employees, enter your take-home pay in the calculator below, before taxes:
Increase low wages
With the increases granted by employers, the average salary in the private sector should be between 2,100 and 2,150 euros in 2023 (compared to 2,012 euros in 2021). Which means that half of the employees earn more and the other half earn less.
The social conference chaired by Elisabeth Borne this week will focus in particular on the case of low wages who suffer the most from inflation, particularly those just above the minimum wage. In this way, the Government intends to put pressure on the sectors that resist increasing their salary scales.
According to a latest report at the end of September, 64 professional branches still had a minimum wage lower than the SMIC. Specifically, this does not mean that employees are paid less than the minimum wage, but rather that they risk remaining at the minimum wage level for many years.
Methodology: To make this comparison, we rely on the latest available data from INSEE, that is, the distribution of salaries in full-time equivalent in 2021 (excluding apprentices, interns, agricultural employees and employees of private employers). To better reflect the increases granted since this date in a context of inflation, we have revalued salaries to the level of the minimum wage by 9.9%, that is, the cumulative automatic revaluation of the minimum wage over 18 months.
Furthermore, according to Dares, the monthly base salary (all gross salaries combined, excluding bonuses and overtime) increased by 6.9% between the end of 2021 and mid-2023. Therefore, we estimate that employees who earned more than the minimum wage at the end of 2021 (around 85% of the total) saw their remuneration increase by 6.4% on average in 18 months (while prices increased by 9.1% during the period).
Therefore, from their 2021 level, all salaries above the minimum wage have increased by 6.4% in our calculator. This method only aims to obtain a more representative global image of the distribution of salaries in 2023. In no case can it reflect the exact situation of each employee. In fact, the salary increase of 6.4% in a year and a half is only an average, which hides important disparities: some employees have increased beyond 6.4%, others more on this side.
Source: BFM TV
