23 March 2018

2018- n° 78

In 2016, the average net wage rose in real terms by 0.4% in the civil service. The average remuneration of workers in place rose by 1,4 %. Wages in the public - year 2016

At the end of 2016, the civil service employed 5.67 million persons-tenured civil servants, contract employees, beneficiaries of subsidised contracts and other categories.

In the whole civil service, all status combined, the average net wage in full-time equivalent (FTE) rose by 0.5% in nominal terms between 2015 and 2016. This rise reflects individual wage progressions, but also job structure changes in the civil service, particularly in terms of status (for example, variation in subsidised contracts employment volume) and in terms of age (because of retirements and recruitments).Taking into account inflation, the average net wage rose by 0.4% in real terms between 2015 and 2016, and reached 2,230 euros per month in average. In 2016, the average gross wages increased by 0.7% in real terms. The difference between the two variations is explained in particular by the rise in the contribution rate of employee retirement in civil service under the pension reform of 2010.

In the State civil service (SCS, excluding the military) within ministries and public institutions, the average net wage in full-time equivalent (FTE) rose by 0.2% in real terms. It reached 2,510 euros per month in average in 2016.

In the local civil service (LCS, excluding the military, nursery and family assistants), the average net wage in FTE increased by 0.4% in real terms and climbed at 1,900 euros per month.

In the hospital civil service (HCS) which includes staff of hospitals and medico-social institutions (excluding hospital interns and externs), the average net wage in FTE rose by 0.4% in real terms. It reached 2,260 euros per month in 2016.

Gaps in wage levels between the three civil services result mainly from different structures in terms of category, status and types of jobs held. Indeed, 60% of state civil servants belong to category A, for only 30% of HCS agents, and 10% of agents in the LCS. In contrast, 75% of local civil servants and half of hospital civil servants belong to category C compared with nearly 20% in the SCS.

The average remuneration of workers in place (ARWP) measures the average variation in wages of the civil servants present for two complete consecutive years. Therefore it reflects the individual development in earned wages, including a career effect related to seniority. This indicator has a scope which excludes entries and exits and is limited to the agents present for two complete and consecutive years with the same employer and the same work quotity. It therefore covers two-thirds of the civils servants, taking into account the importance of labor flows (entries into the civil service, exits, changes of employer) and changes in working quotity.

In 2016, in the civil service, the net ARWP increased by 1.4% in real terms (after 1.8% in 2015). It rose in each civil service: by 1.7% in SCS, by 1.1% in LCS and by 1.4% in HCS.

Compared to the last publication in Informations Rapides n°81 on 23 March 2017, the average net wage 2015 in HCS has been revised. Especially, the 2014-2015 variation in the average net wage in real terms is raised by 0.3 points.