Informations Rapides · 7 October 2022 · n° 265

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

In the second quarter of 2022, the number of hours paid by employers rebounded moderately, following a drop in the previous quarter. On the one hand, the use of sick leave decreased, whereas it had increased at the beginning of the year due to the Omicron wave of Covid-19. On the other hand, the use of short-time working scheme decreased, its extent being comparable to its level before the health crisis in all sectors. The payroll also increased in the second quarter of 2022, driven in particular by the 2.65% revaluation of the minimum wage on 1st May 2022 (after a 0.9% increase on 1st January 2022). However, it increased less than the hours, due to the deadline for the special bonus for purchasing power on 31st March 2022.

Various labour cost reduction measures are taken into account in the labour cost index and contribute to its variations until the second 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 per employee whose wage was lower than 3 minimal wages (and even €2,000 for firms having signed a profit-sharing deal).

Then, the “1 young person, 1 solution” plan, launched at the end of July 2020 and extended until December 2022, provides under certain conditions for a premium, up to €4,000, to employers hiring a young worker under 26 years of age. It also provides for an exceptional aid for 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 measures have been gradually reduced as the health crisis came to an end; however, some employers still have the opportunity of charging to 2022 the remainder of the aid for the payment of contributions to which they were entitled in 2021 and from which they have not yet benefited fully.

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 2021, 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).