15 March 2019

2019

In Q4 2018, the labour cost index - wages and salaries increased by 0.6%, the total labour cost index increased by 0.7% Labor cost index in industry, construction and services - fourth quarter 2018

In the fourth quarter of 2018, the labour cost index (LCI) - wages and salaries in the non-farm business sector hardly accelerated (+0.6% quarter on quarter, after +0.5% in Q3 2018 – seasonally adjusted data). Year on year, it rose by 2.2%, a slightly larger increase than in the third quarter (+2.1%). The average working time remained almost stable in the first quarter (0.1% y-o-y).

In Q4 2018, wages in industry accelerated a bit over the quarter (+0.4% after +0.3% in Q3 2018) and over the year (+2.0% after +1.7% in the fourth quarter). Evolutions were different between sectors: over the quarter, wages rose in manufacturing (+0.4% in the fourth quarter after +0.2%) and rebounded in mining and quarrying (+0.5%, after -1.3%). Conversely, they remained nearly stable in water supply and sewerage and slowed down in electricity and gas after a strong increase in Q3 2018 (+0.8% after +2.3%).

In Q4 2018, wages in services accelerated quarter on quarter (+0,7% after +0,5% in the third quarter) and year on year (+2.4% after +2.2%). This acceleration is sharp in finance and insurance activities (+1.1% q-o-q in the fourth quarter after +0,5%) and in real estate activities (+1.7% after +0.7%). On the contrary, wages decelerated in accommodation and food services activities (0.0% in the fourth quarter after +0.5%).

Wages in construction declined barely after a dynamic third quarter (-0.1% after +1.0%).

The Q3 2018 quarterly variation in LCI - wages and salaries in the non-farm business sector has been revised downward by 0.1 percentage points and the year-over-year variation by 0.2 percentage points.

In the fourth quarter of 2018, the total labour cost index in the non-farm business sector accelerated slightly over the quarter (+0.7%, after +0.5% – seasonally adjusted data). It increased by 2.9% over the year, at the same pace as in Q3.

Without tax credit for encouraging competitiveness and jobs (CICE), the rise in the index over the year would have been smaller (+2.5%). The rate of CICE has indeed been lowered by 1 percentage point (from 7% to 6%) in metropolitan France since 1st January 2018.

The Q3 2018 quarter-on-quarter variation in total labour cost index in the non-farm business sector has been revised upwards by 0.1 percentage points and the year-over-year variation by 0,2 percentage points.