Labour cost and structure of earnings annual survey 

Ecmoss

The purpose of the Labour Cost and Structure of Earnings Surveys (Ecmoss) is to monitor annually the structure of employees' earnings and working time.
They provide, in turn, to have :
- explanatory elements of wage disparities, Ecmoss is then in the "structure of wages" or "SSE" configuration;
- a measurement and breakdown of the cost of labour for employing establishments, in which case the Ecmoss is in the "labour cost" or "Ecmo" configuration.
The Ecmoss surveys are designed to meet the requirements of the European framework regulation No 530/1999 of 9 March 1999, supplemented by the implementing regulations of 21 October 2005 ("Labour costs" - No 1737/2005 and "Structure of earnings" - No 1738/2005).

The surveys operate in a four-year cycle: two years of surveys in the <> format (<> format) and two years of surveys in the <> format (<> format). The surveys allow alternatively:
- In ESS format: to have explanatory elements of wage disparities. The survey then provides detailed data on employees' pay: its components (basic pay, overtime, supplements, variable bonuses, salary savings, benefits in kind, etc.), according to the characteristics of the employees (gender, diploma, qualification, professional experience, etc.) and of the employers (sector of activity, size of the company, region, etc.) The survey also provides information on paid and worked working hours (taking into account holidays, various public holidays and bridging days, and other days not worked). In this format, the main indicator produced from the survey is average hourly earnings.
- In Ecmo format: to measure and break down the cost of labour for employing establishments. The survey thus makes it possible to evaluate, in addition to wages, the charges levied on them, and more generally the expenditure incurred by the enterprise in respect of its employees: employers' social security contributions, supplementary wages paid in the event of sickness or in respect of other risks, other cost elements (taxes or various discharging expenditure levied on wages, training expenditure, other expenditure for the benefit of employees, etc.) and the subsidies received by the enterprise. In this format, the main indicator produced from the survey is the average hourly labour cost, broken down by sector of activity, region and company size. Information on the structure of wages is also requested, but to a lesser extent than for the ESS format.

The first cycle of surveys in this four-year format took place from 2006 to 2009, covering the years 2005 to 2008. The cycles are vintage dated according to the years of collection, while the surveys themselves are referenced according to the year of validity of the data. This was followed by the 2010-2013, 2014-2017, 2018-2021 and, currently, the 2022-2025 collection cycles. Prior to 2006, SSE or Ecmo surveys had been carried out since 1966, at an irregular pace and on more or less broad sectoral fields. Since the 2014-2017 collection cycle, the geographical scope of Ecmoss surveys has been extended from metropolitan France to France excluding Mayotte.

Survey

Annual

Directorate of Research, Economic Studies and Statistics