identical working hours, men still earn nearly 15% more than women according to the latest INSEE study on salary gaps in the private sector. By bringing the comparison to comparable positions, men’s salaries still remain 4% higher… This year, INSEE is also zooming in on the 20 professions where women are the most numerous.
Construction? Transportation? Very predominantly male sectors. To put it in a trivial way, truck drivers, computer engineers, delivery drivers are very often seen as men’s jobs. Women represent only 2.8% of road drivers, notes for example INSEE in its annual study on the salary gap between men and women. This professional segregation is not the only explanation for pay gaps but it is one of the elements of explanation according to INSEE.
Only 4.9% of secretaries are men
Because the same observation is made in the other direction. Many professions are seen as women’s jobs. The most feminine profession in France, both in terms of the share of women within the profession but also in proportion of employees exercising this profession is secretary. Only 4.9% of secretaries are men, notes INSEE.
1974, average monthly net salary of a secretary
With around 95% women, the professions of secretaries andhome help are the professions where the proportion of men is the lowest. On the other hand, the profession is described by INSEE as cleaners/cleaners certainly appears on the podium of the most common professions for employed women (almost 3% of active and employed women are cleaners), but more than 42% of people in this profession are men.
SIMULATOR. Compare your monthly net salary to that of the French
INSEE then details the average salaries in the 20 professions where women are the most numerous. One observation is obvious: in these professions, the average salary is very often lower than the average salary of French people, all professions combined, of 2,630 euros net per month.
Certainly, comparisons are always more relevant with the median salary (50% earn more, 50% earn less), of 2,091 euros in 2022. But the data listed in the table below are the average salaries of the professions concerned. And even when measuring ourselves against the median salary, only eight averages out of twenty are above the median of 2,091 euros. And only two above the average of 2630 euros…
| THE 20 most common professions among women in the private sector in 2022 | Among employed women, how many practice this profession? | How many women are there in this profession? | Average net salary * |
| Secretaries | 4.70% | 95.1% | 1,974 |
| Qualified administrative employees from other company departments | 2.91% | 73.2% | 2,187 |
| Cleaners | 2.91% | 57.1% | 1,562 |
| Self-service retail and warehouse employees | 2.89% | 54.9% | 1,681 |
| Qualified employees in accounting or financial services | 2.41% | 79.6% | 2,205 |
| Home help, housekeepers, family workers | 2.41% | 94.4% | 1,548 |
| Nurses | 1.83% | 90.1% | 2,030 |
| Food sellers | 1.73% | 70% | 1,653 |
| Hospital service agents | 1.68% | 80.5% | 1,812 |
| Qualified employees of companies’ commercial departments (excluding sales) | 1.62% | 73.0% | 2,262 |
| General care nurses, employees | 1.59% | 87.9% | 2,581 |
| Store cashiers | 1.56% | 85.8% | 1,665 |
| Kitchen helpers, kitchen apprentices and versatile catering employees | 1.53% | 43.9 | 1,616 |
| Executives of other administrative services of small and medium-sized businesses | 1.32% | 56.0 | 4,377 |
| Master’s degree and technicians in financial or accounting services | 1.32% | 73.6% | 2,571 |
| Salespeople in clothing and sporting goods | 1.26% | 71.8% | 1,733 |
| Engineers and study managers, research and development in IT | 1.24% | 25.5% | 3,864 |
| Master’s degree and administrative technicians from other administrative services | 1.20% | 67.8% | 2,558 |
| Waitresses, restaurant clerks | 1.19% | 54.0% | 1,671 |
| Low-skilled administrative employees | 1.10% | 75.1% | 1,916 |
* Average monthly net salary in full-time equivalent (EQTP), in 2022.
Source: INSEE.
wage gaps between men and women: the key figures
- Average annual salary income: 26,110 euros for men, 19,980 euros for women, i.e. 23.5% differencein 2022, in the private sector, according to INSEE;
- Average net salary in full-time equivalent (so identical working time): 14.9% gap, compared to a gap of 22.1% on this same indicator in 1995;
- Average net salary comparable position and identical working time: 4% aside;
Do you earn more
or less than other employees? *
You win :
As of 01/12/2023, the minimum wage is 1,383.08 net monthly
In 2022, the median salary is 2,091 net monthly
(50% earns more, 50% earns less)
In 2022, 1% of employees earn more than 9,973 net monthly
* Source : INSEE – Salaries in the private sector 2022.