Enterprises in France 2014 Edition

This new edition of the Enterprises in France issue from the “Insee Références” collection offers a comprehensive structural view of our productive system.

Insee Références
Paru le :Paru le07/11/2014
Antoine Luciani
Les entreprises en France- November 2014
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Level of collective bargaining and pay in France

Antoine Luciani

In France, collective agreements negotiated at sectoral or decentralised level (especially enterprise, but also establishment or group) relate primarily to wages. On average, decentralised agreements correspond to a higher salary - between 13.5% and 5.5% depending on the type of agreement - and to a greater variable proportion than sectoral agreements. There are differences between decentralised levels: the pay is higher in cases of group agreement, as opposed to enterprise or establishment agreement. Agreements negotiated at the establishment level correspond to more individualised pay through bonuses while those at group level refer to higher flexibility of the payroll through employee savings plans. Hence the percentage of bonuses in pay increased by 1.2 percentage points when bargaining took place at the establishment rather than sectoral level. The percentage of employee savings plans was, in turn, 2 points higher in establishments applying group rather than sectoral agreements. Decentralised agreements also tend to increase the overall wage dispersion. Indeed, difference in pay, according to whether the agreement was concluded at enterprise or group level, rather than sectoral level, was twice as high for the 10% of highest paid employees (last decile) than for the lowest paid 10% (first decile).

Insee Références

Paru le :07/11/2014