2518 euros net per month. This is what employees in the private sector earned, on average, in 2020. To climb into the very closed club of the richest 1% of employees, you have to earn more than 9,638 euros per month.
The facts are here: in 2020, wages increased by 3.2% in constant euros, i.e. taking into account the rise in prices, reveals a study (1) of the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee) publishes this Tuesday.
A trompe-l’il rise
However, at checkout, few French people feel richer than a year earlier. Rightly: This dynamism is misleading, explains the INSEE. More than individual salary increases, it results in substantial changes to the structure of jobs in 2020.
In question, the health crisis. The jobs that were temporarily destroyed were on average less qualified and in less remunerative sectors than the others (young people, short contracts, etc.), continues INSEE. Not to mention partial unemployment, which mainly affected employees and workers.
These structural effects would have artificially inflated the wages of 1.7%, according to INSEE estimates. Result: constant socio-professional category, sector of activity and condition of employment, the increase in salaries would only be 1.5% in constant euros.
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Strong wage disparities
A slight increase, therefore. But a rise all the same. The average net monthly salary in full-time equivalent of employees in the private sector is thus 2518 euros. But not everyone benefited from the same increases.
In detail, executives have seen their salaries jump from 2% in 2020, after two consecutive years of decline: -0.7% in 2019, and -0.2% in 2018. The increase is also marked for employees (+1.9%), but remains more modest for intermediate professions (+1.3%) and workers (+0.7%).
Still according to INSEE, one out of two employees earns less than 2005euros net per month in full-time equivalent. The survey also reveals that, if they do not worsen, strong wage inequalities will persist in 2020.
The lowest 10% earners, for example, earn less 1343 euros. In contrast, the wealthiest 10% of employees have a higher income 4033 euros. Highlight: to join the 1% of the richest employees in France, you have to pocket more than 9638 euros.
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There are also wage gaps from one business sector to another. Net full-time equivalent salaries reach on average 2773 euros per month for industry, 2275 euros for building, and 2485 euros for the tertiary. Conversely, the average salary is mechanically higher in sectors with a high proportion of managers, such as financial services (3750 euros) and information-communication (3583 euros).
Finally, INSEE notes that in 2020 women earn on average 15.2% less than full-time equivalent men. A pay gap that tends to be reduced: -0.9 points in 2020, wearing -5.7 points the decline since 2008. But there is still a long way to go. Women working more often part-time, the average pay gap would be even greater if the wages received were not related to the volume of work, reminds INSEE.
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Private salaries: the key figures
- 1220 euros: net minimum wage in 2020
- 1343 euros: net salary of the 10% of employees earning the least
- 2005euros: median net salary (50% of employees earn more, 50% earn less)
- 2518 euros: average net salary, full time, in 2020
- 4033 euros: net salary of the 10% of employees earning the most
- 9638 euros: net salary of the 1% of the highest earners in the country
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(1) Wages in the private sector, Insee Premire, Number 1898