Parisians on the terrace in May 2021. – JP PARIENTE / SIPA
- INSEE is publishing a study on private sector wages on Thursday for 2019.
- The average net salary amounts to 2,424 euros net monthly, the median salary to 1,940 euros net.
- The abolition of certain contributions and the “Macron bonus” boosted salaries in 2019.
It is a valuable tool for comparing your payslip. INSEE publishes its latest salary update in the private sector on Tuesday, which employs some 19 million people in France. In 2019 (last year studied), the median salary * reached 1,940 euros net monthly, up 2.6% compared to the previous year.
Several measures explain this strong increase: the abolition of employee unemployment insurance contributions at the end of 2018, the payment of the “Macron premium” at the beginning of 2019 (nearly 4.8 million beneficiaries, for an average amount of 401 euros), and exemption from contributions on overtime. All in all, before the pandemic and the economic crisis, “the purchasing power of net wages [avait] thus increased much more clearly (+ 1.2%) than in 2018 (+ 0.4%), ”notes INSEE.
1% of employees receive 7.5 times the minimum wage
If we look at the distribution of wages (see graph below), we notice that nearly 10% of private sector employees earn less than 1,319 euros net per month. And one in four employees earns less than 1,534 euros per month. In addition, “nearly 8 out of 10 employees have a net monthly salary of between the minimum wage (1,204 euros net) and 3,200 euros”, notes INSEE.
Distribution of wages in the private sector (Insee, 2019 figures) through 20 minutes
Regarding the highest salaries, only 10% of employees earn more than 3,844 euros per month. 5% are above 4,980 euros. Finally, at the very top, 1% earn more than 9,103 euros net monthly (around 7.5 times the minimum wage).
* The median salary divides the study population into two equal parts: 50% earn more than this salary, 50% earn less. It thus allows, unlike the average salary, to have a better representation of inequalities.