28 March 2019

2019- n° 84

In 2017, the average net wage in the civil service rose by 0.9% in real terms. Wages in the public - year 2017

At the end of 2017, the civil service employed 5.7 million persons-tenured civil servants, contract employees and other status (including beneficiaries of subsidised contracts).

In the whole civil service, all status combined (without military, nursery and family assistants, hospital interns and externs and apprentices), the average net wage in full-time equivalent (FTE) is 2,280 euros in 2017. It rose by 1.9% in nominal terms between 2016 and 2017 (after +0.6% 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, decrease in the number of subsidised contracts) and because of retirements and recruitments. In 2017, wages are supported by increases in the value of the index (full-year effect of the 0.6% increase in July 2016 and the 0.6% increase in February 2017) and the continued application of the protocol on the career and remuneration of the public service.

Taking into account inflation, the average net wage rose in 2017 by 0.9% in real terms (after 0.4% in 2016), and reached 2,280 euros per month in average. In 2017, the average gross wages increased by 1.2% 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) within ministries and public institutions, the average net wage in full-time equivalent (FTE) rose by 1.1% in real terms. It reached 2,560 euros per month in average in 2017.

In the local civil service (LCS), the average net wage in FTE increased by 1.0% in real terms and climbed at 1,940 euros per month.

In the hospital civil service (HCS) which includes staff of hospitals and medico-social institutions, the average net wage in FTE rose by 0.3% in real terms. It reached 2,290 euros per month in 2017.

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, 61% of state civil servants belong to category A, for only 31% 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 covers near 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 2017, in the civil service, the net ARWP increased by 1.9% in real terms (after 1.5% in 2016). It rose in each civil service: by 2.4% in SCS, by 1.8% in LCS and by 1.3% in HCS.

Compared to the last publication in Informations Rapides n°78 on 23 March 2018, apprentices have been excluded of study on wages for the three civil services. The average wage in 2016 in HCS and SCS has been revised. In particular, variations in the average gross wage in real terms in these civil services are enhanced by 0.1 points. The wages in LCS are unchanged.