With an increase of 0.3% in 2021, the net wages of the French did not keep pace with inflation, which reached 1.6% that year. As a result, at 2,524 euros per month, the median full-time equivalent take-home salary in the private sector fell by 1.3% in constant euros in one year, according to INSEE.
The average net salary was 2012 euros in 2021 (-1.2% in constant euros). In other words, half of the private sector employees earned more and the other half less. “This average net salary is 20.3% lower than the average salary, which reflects a greater concentration of salaries in the lower part of the distribution”, notes the INSEE.
The only decile that has seen its average net salary increase in constant euros thanks to the revaluations of the minimum wage indexed to inflation, the 10% of the most modest employees received less than 1,366 euros per month (+0.2%) in 2021 For their part, the richest 10% earned more than 4,010 euros (-2.1%), while one in every hundred wage earners earned more than 9,602 euros per month (-1.9%), which corresponds to eight minimum wages.
To compare your pay with other private sector employees, enter your take-home pay (rounded to the nearest 50 euros) in the calculator below:
It should be noted that wage inequalities decreased in 2021, continuing a trend that began in the late 1990s. Thus, “over a long period, between 1996 and 2021, the 1st decile increased slightly faster than the 9th decile (+ 18.8% against +16.5%)”, underlines the INSEE, specifying however that “salary disparities decreased mainly in the 2000s”.
Source: BFM TV
