16 June 2020
2020- n° 149In Q1 2020, labour cost index - wages and salaries rose by 1.3% and total labour cost
index by 1.5% Labor cost index in industry, construction and services - first quarter 2020
In the first quarter of 2020, the labour cost index (LCI) - wages and salaries in the non-farm business sector accelerated sharply: +1.3% quarter on quarter, after +0.1% in Q4 2019 (seasonally adjusted data). This momentum is the result of payroll falling less than paid hours (hours corresponding to short-time working excluded).
Year on year, the LCI – wages and salaries rose by 0.9%, a slightly lower increase than in the previous quarter (+1.2%). The average working time markedly decreased: -3.1% over the year.
- In a context of economic recession, related to the health crisis and the implementation of the lockdown from Mid-March, wage bill and total hours worked decreased sharply in Q1 2020. These drops are essentially the result of the strong increase in the use of short-time working, for which the system has been strengthened by the government: the legal compensation due to employees is now fully refunded by the state for all employees (up to 70% of gross wage within the limit of 4.5 times the minimal wage). The labour cost indices measuring only the cost of one worked hour supported by employers, the hours compensated for short-time working and the corresponding compensation paid to the employees are not taken into account.
- The series of hours worked per job produced by Dares (Statistical service of the Ministry of Labour) and usually used for the calculation of labour cost indices has been suspended in Q1 2020, due to the replacement of the Acemo quarterly survey by a flash survey on activity and employment conditions of the workforce specific to the health crisis (Acemo-Covid). Thus, the hours per job used to calculate the Q1 2020 variations of the indices come from a new source used for this goal: the nominative social declaration (DSN).
- The special bonus for purchasing power passed by French Parliament in late December 2018 has been renewed in 2020: the original system planned that only firms having signed a profit-sharing deal could pay up to 1’000€ free of any tax, to employees whose wage was lower than 3 times the minimal wage. With the health crisis, the government has allowed all firms to pay this bonus and has raised the threshold to 2’000€ for firms having signed a profit-sharing deal.
- As of 1st October 2019, the employers’ contribution general exemption, consisting in lowering the employers’ social contributions for wages lower than 1.6 times the minimal wage has been extended to the unemployment insurance contribution (with a rate of 4.05%). Thus, the amount of exemptions under this measure increased by 900 million euros in Q4 2019, lowering by 0.5 points the total labour cost index. This effect no longer affects the quarter-on-quarter variations but still impacts the year-on-year variations.
- In Q1 2020, labour cost index – wages and salaries accelerated sharply
- Wages increased sharply in industry and services but decreased slightly in construction
- Slight upward revision of labour cost index – wages and salaries in Q4 2019
- The total labour cost index increased by 1.5%
- Slight revision of LCI – total labour cost in Q4 2019
- For futher information
In Q1 2020, labour cost index – wages and salaries accelerated sharply
In the first quarter of 2020, the labour cost index (LCI) - wages and salaries in the non-farm business sector accelerated sharply: +1.3% quarter on quarter, after +0.1% in Q4 2019 (seasonally adjusted data). This momentum is the result of payroll falling less than paid hours (hours corresponding to short-time working excluded).
Year on year, the LCI – wages and salaries rose by 0.9%, a slightly lower increase than in the previous quarter (+1.2%). The average working time markedly decreased: -3.1% over the year.
tableauLCI - wages and salaries: Year-on-year changes
| Total | Industry | Construction | Services | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012-Q1 | 1.7 | 2.6 | 0.3 | 1.6 |
| 2012-Q2 | 2.1 | 2.3 | 1.6 | 2.0 |
| 2012-Q3 | 2.4 | 2.6 | 2.3 | 2.4 |
| 2012-Q4 | 2.5 | 2.4 | 2.1 | 2.5 |
| 2013-Q1 | 2.3 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3 |
| 2013-Q2 | 2.4 | 2.6 | 2.2 | 2.4 |
| 2013-Q3 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 2.1 | 2.2 |
| 2013-Q4 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 1.9 | 2.1 |
| 2014-Q1 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 2.5 | 2.2 |
| 2014-Q2 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 1.5 |
| 2014-Q3 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 1.3 |
| 2014-Q4 | 1.1 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 0.8 |
| 2015-Q1 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 1.2 |
| 2015-Q2 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 1.5 | 1.2 |
| 2015-Q3 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 1.3 |
| 2015-Q4 | 1.7 | 1.9 | 2.0 | 1.5 |
| 2016-Q1 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 1.4 | 1.4 |
| 2016-Q2 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 1.5 | 1.2 |
| 2016-Q3 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 2.2 | 1.0 |
| 2016-Q4 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 0.9 |
| 2017-Q1 | 1.7 | 1.9 | 3.0 | 1.4 |
| 2017-Q2 | 1.6 | 2.2 | 3.1 | 1.3 |
| 2017-Q3 | 1.5 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 1.2 |
| 2017-Q4 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 3.7 | 1.6 |
| 2018-Q1 | 1.6 | 2.1 | 0.8 | 1.6 |
| 2018-Q2 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 1.9 |
| 2018-Q3 | 2.0 | 1.8 | 2.3 | 2.0 |
| 2018-Q4 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 0.5 | 2.5 |
| 2019-Q1 | 3.0 | 3.4 | 5.0 | 2.7 |
| 2019-Q2 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 2.0 | 1.3 |
| 2019-Q3 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 2.6 | 1.9 |
| 2019-Q4 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 2.7 | 1.1 |
| 2020-Q1 | 0.9 | 0.3 | -0.5 | 1.2 |
graphiqueLCI - wages and salaries: Year-on-year changes
- Scope: non-agricultural market sector excluding services to households.
- Sources: ACOSS, DARES, INSEE.
Wages increased sharply in industry and services but decreased slightly in construction
In Q4 2019, wages in industry rose slightly (+0.2% quarter on quarter), less quickly than in Q3 2019 (+0.4%). In construction, wages also increased by 0.2%, but the slowdown is more pronounced: this rise came after a strong increase in Q3 2019 (+1.4%).
Wages in services were at standstill (–0.1% after +1.0% in Q3 2019), decreasing in particular in transportation and storage (–1.5% after +2.1%) and in financial and insurance activities (–1.5% after +1.3%). Nonetheless, they kept on increasing sharply in other sectors such as administrative and support service activities (+1.0% after +0.7%) or real estate activities (+0.8% after 1.3%).
tableauLCI - wages & salaries
| Quarterly variations (%) | Yearly variations(%) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q4-2019 | Q1-2020 | Q4-2019 | Q1-2020 | |
| Industry | 0.1 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 0.3 |
| Mining and quarrying | 1.5 | 1.0 | 3.2 | 0.3 |
| Manufacturing | 0.2 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 0.4 |
| Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply | 0.2 | -0.2 | 0.1 | -1.0 |
| Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities | -0.4 | 1.7 | 2.4 | 0.6 |
| Services | 0.1 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 1.2 |
| Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 0.6 |
| Transportation and storage | -0.2 | 0.1 | 0.7 | -0.4 |
| Accommodation and food service activities | 0.4 | -0.5 | 1.1 | -0.9 |
| Information and communication | -0.2 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.0 |
| Financial and insurance activities | -1.7 | 4.5 | -0.7 | 0.8 |
| Real estate activities | 1.1 | 1.3 | 2.1 | 2.5 |
| Professional, scientific and technical activities | 0.1 | -0.2 | 0.3 | 0.7 |
| Administrative and support service activities | 1.0 | -0.2 | 2.1 | 1.3 |
| Construction | 0.2 | -0.2 | 2.7 | -0.5 |
| TOTAL | 0.1 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 0.9 |
- Scope: non-agricultural market sector excluding services to households
- Sources: ACOSS, DARES, INSEE
Slight upward revision of labour cost index – wages and salaries in Q4 2019
In comparison to the previous release of 13th March 2020, the Q4 2019 quarterly and yearly variations in LCI - wages and salaries in the non-farm business sector have been revised upwards by 0.1 percentage points.
The total labour cost index increased by 1.5%
In the first quarter of 2020, the total labour cost index in the non-farm business sector rebounded: +1.5% over the quarter, after –0.4% in the fourth quarter – seasonally adjusted data.
Over the year, the total labour cost index increased by 1.2%, a slightly quicker pace than in the fourth quarter (+0.7%).
tableauLCI - total labour cost: year-on-year changes
| Total | Industry | Construction | Services | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012-Q1 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 0.7 | 1.7 |
| 2012-Q2 | 2.3 | 2.6 | 2.0 | 2.2 |
| 2012-Q3 | 2.5 | 2.8 | 2.5 | 2.4 |
| 2012-Q4 | 2.4 | 2.5 | 2.2 | 2.3 |
| 2013-Q1 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.5 |
| 2013-Q2 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.5 |
| 2013-Q3 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| 2013-Q4 | 0.3 | 0.3 | -0.1 | 0.3 |
| 2014-Q1 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 1.4 |
| 2014-Q2 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.7 |
| 2014-Q3 | 0.4 | 0.5 | -0.1 | 0.4 |
| 2014-Q4 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 0.0 | -0.1 |
| 2015-Q1 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 0.6 |
| 2015-Q2 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.6 |
| 2015-Q3 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.7 |
| 2015-Q4 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 0.8 |
| 2016-Q1 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 2.2 | 1.7 |
| 2016-Q2 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.9 | 1.0 |
| 2016-Q3 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 0.7 |
| 2016-Q4 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 0.4 |
| 2017-Q1 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 0.4 |
| 2017-Q2 | 1.0 | 1.9 | 2.9 | 0.6 |
| 2017-Q3 | 1.1 | 2.0 | 2.3 | 0.7 |
| 2017-Q4 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 3.9 | 1.3 |
| 2018-Q1 | 2.2 | 2.6 | 1.4 | 2.2 |
| 2018-Q2 | 2.6 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 2.8 |
| 2018-Q3 | 2.7 | 2.4 | 3.0 | 2.8 |
| 2018-Q4 | 3.0 | 2.6 | 1.0 | 3.4 |
| 2019-Q1 | 2.6 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 2.4 |
| 2019-Q2 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 1.6 | 1.5 |
| 2019-Q3 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 2.1 |
| 2019-Q4 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 1.6 | 0.6 |
| 2020-Q1 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 1.4 |
graphiqueLCI - total labour cost: year-on-year changes
- Scope: non-agricultural market sector excluding services to households.
- Sources: ACOSS, DARES, INSEE.
Slight revision of LCI – total labour cost in Q4 2019
The Q4 2019 quarter-on-quarter variation in total labour cost index in the non-farm business sector has been revised upwards by 0.1 percentage points; the year-on-year variation has been revised downwards by 0.1 percentage points.
tableauLCI - total labour cost
| Quarterly variations (%) | Yearly variations (%) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q4-2019 | Q1-2020 | Q4-2019 | Q1-2020 | |
| Industry | -0.2 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 0.6 |
| Mining and quarrying | 1.4 | 1.0 | 3.3 | 1.0 |
| Manufacturing | -0.2 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 0.6 |
| Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply | 0.2 | -0.2 | 0.2 | -0.8 |
| Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities | -0.6 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 0.7 |
| Services | -0.4 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 1.4 |
| Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles | -0.6 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 0.6 |
| Transportation and storage | -0.4 | -0.3 | 0.3 | -0.4 |
| Accommodation and food service activities | -1.1 | 0.1 | -0.7 | -1.4 |
| Information and communication | -0.3 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 0.4 |
| Financial and insurance activities | -1.9 | 4.3 | -0.4 | 1.9 |
| Real estate activities | 0.9 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 3.1 |
| Professional, scientific and technical activities | -0.1 | -0.1 | 0.1 | 1.0 |
| Administrative and support service activities | 0.5 | -0.5 | 1.1 | 0.7 |
| Construction | -0.7 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 0.0 |
| TOTAL | -0.4 | 1.5 | 0.7 | 1.2 |
- Scope: non-agricultural market sector excluding services to households
- Sources: ACOSS, DARES, INSEE
For futher information
Next issue: 15 September 2020 at 12 am.
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