18.4%: this is the share of individuals belonging to the least well-off middle class who had a fixed-term contract in 2019, according to INSEE data. This proportion has tripled since 1996 (6.8%), and has risen significantly since 2011 (14.5%), at a rate that is not found in other segments of the population.
For all households entering the middle classes, the share of fixed-term contracts (CDD) is half as low (9.5%), and has even fallen since 2011. This figure illustrates a clear deterioration in the situation of the employment of the less affluent middle classes in recent years.
This is highlighted by the economist Pierre Courtioux, within the framework of the scientific mediation project “What do we know about work? », from the Interdisciplinary Laboratory for the Evaluation of Public Policies (Liepp), distributed in collaboration with the Liepp and the Presses de Sciences Po on the Emploi channel of Lemonde.fr.
The middle classes are one of the most discussed categories in the social sciences, to the point that it is difficult to find a consensus among researchers on its limits. In this analysis, it is the income that determines the position of an individual: people whose standard of living is between 60% and 200% of the median standard of living [la moitié des personnes a un niveau de vie supérieur, l’autre moitié un niveau de vie inférieur] belong to the middle classes in a broad sense.
In the case of a single person, this income is between 14,497 and 48,322 euros per year. In 2019, 78% of the population fell into this category, compared to 14.6% of individuals at risk of poverty and 7.4% of so-called “well-to-do” individuals. By “lower middle class”the author designates the segment of the population whose level is between 60% and 80% of the French median, ie 16.2% of the population.
Pierre Courtioux emphasizes the ” resilience “ history of this broad category in France: after the 2008 crisis, it did not experience massive impoverishment. As in Belgium or the Netherlands, this is due to a number of rules that limit inequalities, such as a protective unemployment insurance system and the existence of minimum wages.
The weight of inflation
This protective status is now called into question, to the detriment of the party “less well off”, who are at risk of slipping into poverty. The increase in the retirement age and the tightening of unemployment benefit rules directly affect this sub-category, since workers and employees, who are more affected by unemployment or health problems at the end of their career, are overrepresented.
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