Informations Rapides · 8 July 2022 · n° 179

The all employees-revised index of hourly labour cost - (ICHTrev-TS) Hourly labour cost index - first quarter 2022

In the first quarter of 2022, the number of hours paid by employers fell compared to the previous quarter due to the increase in sick leave, attributable to the Omicron wave of COVID-19. However, it was no longer significantly affected by the short-time working scheme, whose extent has returned to its pre-crisis level in all the sectors. At the same time, the payroll increased sharply in the first quarter of 2022, driven in particular by wage negotiations within the industry-level collective wage agreements in the context of accelerating prices since the end of 2021; in addition, the minimum wage was increased by 0.9% on 1st January 2022 (after already having been raised by 2.2% on 1st October 2021).

Various labour cost reduction measures are taken into account in the labour cost index and contribute to its variations until the first quarter of 2022.

First, the special bonus for purchasing power, free of any tax, has been extended from 1st June 2021 to 31st March 2022. All firms were eventually allowed to pay this bonus over this period, up to a limit of 1’000€ to employees whose wage was lower than 3 times the minimal wage (and up to a limit of 2’000€ for firms with a profit-sharing deal).

The “1 young person 1 solution” plan, launched at the end of July 2020 and extended until 31st December 2022, provides under certain conditions for a premium, up to 4’000€, to the employers hiring a young worker under 26 years of age. It also provides for an exceptional assistance when hiring a young worker with a sandwich course contract, up to 8’000€ if the worker is older than 18 years old and up to 5’000€ otherwise.

Last, the plan to support the tourism sector decided on May 2020 provides for exemptions from employers’ social security contributions and assistance with the payment of contributions for the firms with fewer than 250 employees in some sectors, especially concentrated in trade, accommodation and food services and administrative and support service activities (list extended in October 2020). These labour cost reduction measures had been gradually lifted during 2021 and were finally reactivated for some specific situations in December 2021 and January 2022.

The ICHTrev-TS is primarily intended for users who need indicators of labour costs to upgrade their contracts. Therefore, this index is not usually subject to any revision once it has been published (however one exception was made in January 2020, see Warning). It is a monthly index (base 100 in December 2008) that is published every quarter for all industries.

The index of employer contributions has been published since April 2010 (base 100 in December 2008). It differs from the ICHTrev-TS in two ways: the three monthly indices of a same quarter are identical and there is no forecast for the mechanical and electrical industries as far as the first month of the next quarter is concerned. This index of employer contributions measures the change in the variable “1 + rate of employer contributions” where the rate of employer contributions is the percentage of employer social contributions and taxes minus subsidies based on wages and employment, relative to gross salary (see methodological note).